Guangzhou and Dongguan in late April

Culture, language, tangibles, intangibles from countries known for tea. China, Japan, Taiwan, Korea, India, etc...


Feb 17th, '14, 14:38
Posts: 23
Joined: Nov 25th, '13, 17:37

Guangzhou and Dongguan in late April

by Bostonbull » Feb 17th, '14, 14:38

Have some more insight into our itinerary for my first trip to China. Spending 7-10 days total on this trip, will be a bit of a whirlwind, but worth every second I am sure!

Will be landing in HK (at night) and will head straight to the hotel after grabbing food at an outdoor street food/tent city type place I am told. We have a private car to shuttle us around and interpreter as well. Not sure which is first but we are staying at both the Kande Hotel in Guangzhou and the Regal Palace in Dongguan.

From these 2 spots we will be visiting factories about an hours drive from both in any direction.

Later in the stay we fly to Shanghai for another factory tour. I am hoping to get down to the tea fields to witness spring harvest while here. If I cant make it is there any trusted shops to stop into, or known fakes to avoid?

Possibility of flying again to Beijing to take in the great wall and fly home from here as well!



Any tips or insight GREATLY appreciated!!! (Good or bad experiences)

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Feb 17th, '14, 18:32
Posts: 2044
Joined: Jan 11th, '07, 20:47
Location: Los Angeles, CA

Re: Guangzhou and Dongguan in late April

by wyardley » Feb 17th, '14, 18:32

Guangzhou is home to one of the biggest "tea cities" (Fangcun). It's huge, so hard part will be finding the good stuff, but probably worth a visit. There are equivalent areas in Shanghai, though it's been long enough since I've been there, that there have been some changes. A few things you could look out for here:
http://www.teachat.com/viewtopic.php?p=194842#p194842

You should really check out Nicolas's excellent information on tea markets in Guangzhou / Dongguan. Mostly focused on pu'er, but has some good general information as well.

http://www.nicolastang.com/tea/china/

Many of these areas are quite large, and it's impossible to really build relationships with vendors in just a couple of days, but try your teas carefully, make sure what you're tasting is what makes it into your bag, and you should be able to find some goodies.

Feb 21st, '14, 13:10
Posts: 23
Joined: Nov 25th, '13, 17:37

Re: Guangzhou and Dongguan in late April

by Bostonbull » Feb 21st, '14, 13:10

Got word we will be in Yiwu, which is an hour on the train from Longjiang.

Friend over there is going o give us a tour of the region and fields! Any farms in particular to visit and items in this region I should not leave without?

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