China, in pictures and music.

Season One: The Art of Chinese Tea

Fourteen films on tea. Season One follows one leaf from the plant to the cup – the six kinds made from it, the gaiwan and the Yixing pot, the vessels that hold it, and the rituals built around them. No narration, no host, no music video. Just the leaf, filmed slowly, with a line of English and a line of Chinese.

Six finished teas, one plant: green, yellow, white, oolong, red and dark tea

Six families from one leaf — green, yellow, white, oolong, red and dark. Still from Tea, Part One.

Objects and Craft – coming later

After The Art of Chinese Tea, each object gets two films and one card. Earlier films about Chinese objects remain in the archive. Get the cards free.

01 / 12茶TEAWatch → 02 / 12瓷PORCELAINComing 03 / 12玉JADEComing 04 / 12琴GUQINComing 05 / 12香INCENSEComing 06 / 12硯INKSTONEComing 07 / 12傘UMBRELLAComing 08 / 12燈LANTERNComing 09 / 12扇FANComing 10 / 12劍SWORDComing 11 / 12鏡BRONZE MIRRORComing 12 / 12秤STEELYARDComing

New episodes are published twice a week. Episode pages and their films open as each one is finished – everything on this site is written only after the research behind it has been checked and approved.

Looking for the Silk Road series? It is still here — see the Prelude.

Get the free booklet (w/ 12 cards)

Peek inside

The first 5 pages preview, 20 pages in full.

The Art of Chinese Tea — A First Look, Page 1 — coverThe Art of Chinese Tea — A First Look, Page 2 — Welcome and contentsThe Art of Chinese Tea — A First Look, Page 3 — 01 TeaThe Art of Chinese Tea — A First Look, Page 4 — 02 PorcelainThe Art of Chinese Tea — A First Look, Page 5 — 03 Jade

20 pagesChinese, with pinyinInstant PDFNo spam, unsubscribe anytime

How these films are made

The films are produced with AI-assisted image and video generation, directed, cut and scored by hand. Every factual claim on screen is drawn from a written research note with sources. Images and their licences are listed on the image credits page.