# Shanghai — research passport for six collections

Date: 2026-10-04. Map source: `shanghai.png`, viewed in full, 1254 × 1254 px. The language of future drawings is English only. The research serves as an editorial basis for illustrations, not as a tourist guide promising the current operation of all establishments.

## Meaning of the region

**Shanghai — the city through which tea meets the world.** This is trade, markets, tea interiors, public tea drinking and a dialogue between the old city and modern skyscrapers. Collections cannot be built as a copy of plantation Guangdong. A professional tea client needs recognizable ways of handling tea: tasting, storage, trade, sea shipping, tea ware and urban meeting places.

Main image: steam from a small cup turns into an open rhythm of river lines connecting individual scenes. This is an artistic metaphor, not a new historical hypothesis.

## Confirmed tea nodes

| Node | Type of fact and basis | How to depict |
|---|---|---|
| Huxinting / Yu Garden | Historic city teahouse. The building became a commercial teahouse in 1855; Shanghai government describes its tea function, ceremonies and musical life. [S2] | Recognizable pavilion with upturned roofs, several broken bridge sections, open gaiwan and two cups. Not a giant temple and not a rice terrace. |
| Tianshan Tea City | Tea market in Changning; the district administration describes tea sales, tastings, and selection of teaware. [S3] | Counter with cylindrical jars, a scoop of dry leaf, a teapot; small architecture of the trading hall. |
| Daning Tea City | Tea trade hub of Jing'an. Official district tourism list and municipal material confirm its name/role. [S4, S5] | Open cells with tea samples, tasting cups, tea set; separate scene from Tianshan. |
| Jing'an tea culture | District tradition of tea events and international exchange; municipal material about the 2025 exhibition. [S6] | Table with two interlocutors, small tea setting, one archival tea tin. Do not depict a museum with an invented name. |
| Bund / maritime tea trade | Historic tea trading port. The Shanghai government describes the role of the tea trade; the London Museum confirms the first voyage of the Cutty Sark to Shanghai and its return with tea. [S7, S8] | A worker with a tea chest, trade scales, a sailing clipper, and a fragment of the embankment. This is a collective historical scene, not an exact reconstruction of a specific warehouse. |
| Songjiang / He Lou Xuan | The official city guide calls He Lou Xuan a tea pavilion in Fangta Garden. [S9] | Light low open roof, seated tea companions; a small Fangta motif as context. Not an ordinary golden pagoda instead of a tea space. |
| Mingyue tea culture | A municipal publication from 2021 confirms the tea culture theme, tea sessions and antique utensils in the cultural park. A historically documented node; we do not claim the current operating mode. [S10] | Tea demonstration, pot, cups and a shelf of objects. Do not draw plantations around the building. |
| Contemporary tea salon | An editorial generalized scene of urban tea life based on the confirmed tastings above. Not a separate named establishment. | Modern table, austere teapot, leaf on a spoon; optional small Pudong silhouette. No bubble-tea logos. |

Tea names Longjing, Keemun, oolong, or pu-erh may denote market contents or a tasting imported into the city, **but not cultivation in Shanghai**. For print, names of real nodes are preferable to a list of varieties that could create a false link to origin.

## Complete inventory of the source map

### Separate illustrative motifs

1. Northern Chongming Island: island outline, small settlement, network of water lines, thickets.
2. Dongtan Wetland in eastern Chongming: reeds and three flying water birds.
3. Small islands Changxing and Hengsha to the right of the mainland.
4. Traditional pagoda and greenery near Jiading; the map does not name the pagoda — do not attribute a precise name to it without verification.
5. Industrial silhouette at Baoshan: pipes and factory buildings.
6. Wusong: historical tower-like port structure; adjacent port hub/ship.
7. The Bund: an ensemble of historic facades, a clock tower, domes, a promenade with figures.
8. Tea-export dock: several tea chests, workers and a steamer with a funnel.
9. Yu Garden / Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse: pavilion, lotus pond, and zigzag bridge with figures.
10. Old City / Chenghuangmiao Bazaar: arch/street, shops, lanterns, bamboo food baskets, and passersby.
11. Pudong skyline: Oriental Pearl, Jin Mao, Shanghai World Financial Center and Shanghai Tower; lower buildings by the water.
12. A small river vessel near Pudong.
13. Zhujiajiao: arched stone bridge, waterfront houses, willows, boat.
14. Shikumen Lane: stone portal, residential facades, laundry, woman in traditional urban dress.
15. Jing'an Temple: golden roofs and temple complex.
16. 1920s Shanghai tram: green tram, street, people and historic buildings.
17. Longhua Pagoda: tall multi-tiered pagoda and temple complex.
18. Sheshan: a wooded hill, a white basilica/towers, a winding path; terrace-like bands appear in the drawing. **It is not confirmed that these are tea plantings. In new drawings, keep the hill/forest/basilica.**
19. Qibao: another water town, bridge, houses, boat; distinguish from the larger Zhujiajiao scene.
20. Donghai Bridge: a long bridge on supports with a high cable-stayed section.
21. Yangshan Port: port cranes, containers and a large container ship.
22. Branched water lines, estuary and fragments of shores; they can be conveyed with sparse strokes, not fill.
23. General island/mainland shape of the administrative map and decorative relief edge. In new stickers **do not keep as a solid background**.
24. The aged paper, brown earth and blue water of the map are only the source background, **do not transfer** to the RGBA print.

### All legible geographic labels on the map

Shanghai; Chongming Island; Chongming; Dongtan Wetland; Changxing Island; Hengsha Island; Jiading; Baoshan; Wusong (two labels); Yangtze Delta; Yangtze River; Suzhou Creek; The Bund; Tea-Export Dock; Yu Garden; Mid-Lake Pavilion Teahouse; Old City; Chenghuangmiao Bazaar; Pudong Skyline; Pudong; Qingpu; Zhujiajiao; Dianshan Lake; Shikumen Lane; Jing'an Temple; 1920s Shanghai Tram; Longhua Pagoda; Sheshan (the map also indicates 99m); Songjiang; Minhang; Qibao; Jinshan; Fengxian; Huangpu River; Donghai Bridge; Yangshan Port; Hangzhou Bay; East China Sea; Jiangsu (twice); Zhejiang. The lower caption Shanghai and Chinese characters are the map caption; the new print does not include the Chinese text.

The location on the source is approximate, as on an illustrated tourist map. It is not a cadastre. For a composition requiring geography: north at the top, Chongming separately at the top; water towns west of central Shanghai; the Bund west of the Huangpu, Pudong east; Songjiang southwest; Yangshan and the Donghai Bridge far to the southeast.

## What we do not carry over from tea.travel without confirmation

Page [S1] is useful as an editorial roadmap: Bund → Huxinting → trade → modern city. But it is not the only factual source. We do not include the claim “80% of all exports”, the unverified “most complete tea museum in Jiading”, the tying of the start of the 1866 race to Shanghai, precise stories about secret societies, alleged M50 tea warehouses, names of unconfirmed museums, or specific current hours/prices. We do not carry over outdated skyscraper records.

## Artistic revision of the new pilot

C1–C3 are built around tea trade, tasting, craft and urban tea places. C4–C6 expand the story with architecture, water towns, the historic port and modern shores of Shanghai. The city is not depicted as a plantation region.

The new composition is a coherent panorama with two or three main masses, varied scale and depth. The river, roofs, bridges and people's actions connect the stories. Transparency creates natural openings within the drawing. The requirements for isolated scenes, equal intervals and fixed 50–60% emptiness are canceled. A solid backing, territory fill, paper, smoke halo and background sea are not added.

Six directions keep different artwork: a fine two-color engraving; large typography with tea worlds; graphic tea territories; a detailed drawn atlas; a parade of recognizable silhouettes; a river panorama of the journey. The full research inventory remains in the documentation; on the print, meaningful large scenes and readable English captions matter more.

## Sources

- **S1, user route:** [tea.travel — Shanghai](https://tea.travel/en/region/shanghai/). Used for topic selection; individual disputed claims excluded.
- **S2, municipal:** [Shanghai government — Huxinting restoration and tea culture](https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Latest-WhatsNew/20250815/6ff634b100c642ccaefed811cf08d659.html), 2025-08-15.
- **S3, district:** [Changning government — Tianshan Tea City](https://www.shcn.gov.cn/english/col1140/20260527/1310012.html), 2026-05.
- **S4, district:** [Jing'an government — district routes and Daning Tea Center](https://english.jingan.gov.cn/fw/003006/foreign-singledetail.html).
- **S5, municipal:** [Shanghai government — tea culture in Jing'an, Daning](https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-ExpatStories-WhatisNew/20250804/3fc6bd875f0347c683a84a78f24cf883.html), 2025-08.
- **S6, municipal:** [Shanghai government — tea culture exhibition](https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-ArtExhibitions/20250911/cacc2c0a66a948b58a0cc59a9980ac3e.html), 2025-09-11.
- **S7, municipal:** [Shanghai government — Jiading, tea arts heritage](https://www.shanghai.gov.cn/jiading/index.html). The 茶艺 section was used; the existence of a specific museum was not established.
- **S8, museum:** [London Museum — Cutty Sark](https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/cutty-sark/). Search extraction of the museum page confirms the Shanghai voyage; direct opening of the page during research returned an error.
- **S9, municipal:** [Shanghai government — Songjiang guide and He Lou Xuan](https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-CityTour/20250220/78da3e7b499745159454cf210c292308.html), 2025-02-20.
- **S10, municipal archive:** [Shanghai government — Mingyue tea culture](https://service.shanghai.gov.cn/sheninfo/featuredetail.aspx?Id=5ee8c284-ec69-4600-b2f3-df7567ea8ffb), 2021-11-10.
- **S11, museum context:** [Royal Museums Greenwich — Cutty Sark and the tea trade](https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/maritime-history/cutty-sark-tea-trade). Historical clipper type and tea cargo.
- **S12, municipal:** [Shanghai government — Sheshan resort](https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Parks/20231205/685f847c133a4b39878345651f1d179f.html). Forested landscape and tourist facilities; does not confirm the map's tea terraces.

Supplement: [S13 — official detailed material on Fangta Garden](https://english.shanghai.gov.cn/en-Parks/20240220/33352c7e052445c4b457f294f3df227d.html) confirms the low four-slope thatched roof of He Lou Xuan and bamboo supports. [S14 — Jing’an district tea industry](https://english.jingan.gov.cn/xw/002001/20240823/50ae4b15-f012-4ac0-a7de-1dca0ff73b99.html) confirms Daning and Difute International Tea Culture Square. Difute can be included as an additional commercial hub. Mingyue is not used in pilot compositions: cultural role confirmed by archival article, but modern geographic reference is insufficiently clear for a positional print.