SONGYANG TEA BIENNALE

中國松陽茶雙年展

Spring 2015

​

Advisor: Nasrine Seraji

Acknowledgements: Anthony Lin

​

 

PROJECT STATEMENT

​

One can smell tea everywhere in Songyang.
1/3 of the population and 1/3 of the agricultural productivity in Songyang are supported by tea. It also has the largest green tea wholesale market in China, if not the world.

​

Because of the engagement of Songyang population [1] with the tea industry, we consider tea as the only “lever” for Songyang.

Everyone knows Burgundy because of its wine rather than the forgone power that once extended beyond the Netherlands [2].

As such, it hints that the tea industry can also cast a significant impact to the territory.

​

The Tea Biennale is proposed as a holistic approach to provide an occasion attracting people to learn about Songyang through the rich cultural landscape of tea [3].
A healthy cycle would be driven by the feedback through active participation.

​

Urban economy is driven by something ethereal, i.e. capitalism. Rural culture is produced from the land, e.g. culture- agriculture, social structure, etc.

The biennale is no longer an envelope of traditional ideas in a contemporary manner, instead, an incubator [4] for the rural context .

​

在松陽,人們何時何地都可以嗅到茶的氣味。

松陽1/3的人口和農業生產力皆來自茶業。它也有世界最大的綠茶葉批發市場。因為松陽人口在茶產業的參與，我們認為茶能夠成為松陽的“槓桿”。
我們建議透過舉辦茶雙年展以提供一個全面的機會，吸引人們通過茶的豐富的人文景觀了解松陽。一個健康的循環將透過人們積極的參與和反饋來驅動。

城市經濟是由縹緲的東西-金錢推動，即資本主義; 農村文化則是從土地，如生產文化-農業，社會結構等組成。雙年展不單是以當代方式包裝傳統觀念，相反，它是以農村環境作為孵化器。

​

Notes:

 

1.) During the harvesting seasons (Feb to Apr), there are over 160,000 tea pickers from different provinces moving to Songyang when the total population of Songyang is only 230,000.
2.) The research was structured according to different scales from XS to XL.
XS-Tea leaves; S-Organizations of tea business; M- Geographical conditions of tea growing; L- China’s tea trading; XL- Global tea industry
3.)Preparation works before the biennale (2015-2020) include upgrading the quality standard of tea, more inputs to R&D sector, development of B&B hostels and construction of auxiliary amenities.
4.) Incubator (noun in•cu•ba•tor \ˈiŋ-kyə-ˌbā-tər, ˈin-\)
i. Medical: a piece of equipment in which very weak or sick babies are placed for special care and protection after their birth.
ii. Business: an organization or place that helps in the development of new businesses.

​

​

​

PROJECT RECOGNITION

​

- Semester GPA: 3.75

​

- Selected for "Illusions of Rural Gravity: Eight Thoughts of Chinese Rural Development" Exhibition
Shanghai Study Center, The Faculty of Architecture, HKU | 2015.10.08 - 2015.11.27

​

- Nominated design studio presenter for
Public Forum: Mid Semester Design Studio Symposium
Spring 2016 Special Event, The Faculty of Architecture, HKU | 2015.3.27