Xiamen

The tea exhibitors at the Xiamen expo were nothing like the old: the booths were fancy constructions, the staff were friendly and eager to sit you down for some tea, and many items were for sale right on the spot. In the past, I remembered the tea exhibitors had always seemed bored and had the plainest booths. There was hardly enough interest to eat through the bags of peanuts while reading the newspaper. Or perhaps, they just become bored when they exhibit outside the country, because few foreigners understand these teas anyway. But here in their homecountry, particularly in Xiamen, one of the capitals of tea, they were professional enough. There were exhibitors from Taiwan, a large enough amount to merit their own zone. There were a few from Ceylon, but I can imagine how well they might have fared, maybe as well as the Chinese exhibitors in the U.S. There were many teaware manufacturers and even large logs for tea tables. The friendliest people though? the Taiwanese exhibitors. We had a lot of fun complaining about life in China and how hellish it was. I would agree, particularly if you compare it to an island paradise like Taiwan.