For over 4,000 years, drinking tea has been a part of daily life for many Chinese people. The tea-drinking process is believed to be a form of spiritual enjoyment, an art, a means of cultivating moral character, and a way of nourishing the mind. During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the literati became enthusiastic tea drinkers as they worked on their art. Tea served as a common element in poetry, calligraphy and painting at that time. The literati artist Wen Zhengming (1470-1559) even incorporated tea into his painting "Brewing Tea in a Forest Pavilion." This portrays the literati's leisurely life of gathering in the forest and drinking tea on a sunny and breezy day. The host waits for his guest to enjoy some tea in a pavilion. The whole picture is elegant and intriguing, showing the literati's cultivated mind and coveted lifestyle. Produced by China Media Group, the cultural program "China in Poetry and Painting" invited Hong Kong actress Angie Chiu and Zhang Zhifeng, an inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage in Fujian Province, to perform some tea-making techniques. Demonstrating the ancient art form chabaixi, which literally translates as "a hundred tricks with tea," serves as a reminder of how tea-making has been a tradition cherished for thousands of years.

Now housed at the Tianjin Museum, "Brewing Tea in a Forest Pavilion" was drawn by the famous literati painter Wen Zhengming during the Ming Dynasty. Amid a panoramic view of hills, forests and lakes, the host is depicted sitting in a pavilion surrounded by trees, looking out onto the landscape, while his manservant brews tea in front of the stove on a porch. On the other side of the lake, a guest ambles along the road toward the pavilion. With clement weather and a peaceful environment, it seems an impeccable setting in which to drink tea. Instead of directly depicting the scene of people enjoying tea, Wen uses details like the manservant's behavior to imply it is almost time to begin the ceremony, immersing viewers in an atmosphere of tea-drinking.

To elaborate on the spectacular landscape in "Brewing Tea in a Forest Pavilion," Wen carefully designed the composition by scattering various elements around the picture. Trees and vegetation are asymmetrically woven throughout the mountain. Without much embellishment, the pavilion and the fences are rendered with precise brushstrokes. Although the characters are not prominent in the painting, their features are vividly portrayed. The whole image is bright and intriguing, showing the elegance of life at that time.

However, the painting is not a realistic work aiming for verisimilitude. Literati painters like Wen painted to express their ideas, emotions, and perceptions rather than exactly what they saw. They were more interested in conveying the release of stress and nourishment of the mind associated with the process of enjoying tea, striving to represent a more spiritual realm. Paintings like this abound in Wen's creative output, showing his affection for the rituals associated with – and the pleasure taken in – consuming tea.

Known as cha dao, the tea-making process involves the ceremonial preparation and presentation of the beverage. It has held great cultural significance in China since ancient times. On the stage of "China in Poetry and Painting," these techniques are artfully rendered through a performance by Angie Chiu and Zhang Zhifeng. They present tea-making techniques with poetry reading and folk music, allowing audiences to experience and appreciate the aesthetics of tea-making.

Chabaixi uses a special method to create a pattern on the surface of some boiled tea by injecting water. Despite being added to Fujian's intangible cultural heritage items in 2017, this ancient art has only been mastered by a small group of tea enthusiasts. Using a spoon, Zhang draws on the tea broth to form unique patterns such as mountains, lakes, trees and so forth, which are almost as intricate and delicate as in the masterpiece "Brewing Tea in a Forest Pavilion."

China was the first country in the world to plant tea and ranks as the original homeland of tea culture. Tea-drinking has also become a part of life for Chinese people. They use it to console themselves and meditate on what really matters in life. Traditionally, tea embodies Chinese people's attitude toward nature and their inner selves, a culture still keenly felt today.