As the 15th National Games captivate China, the city of Jiangmen is blending athletic excitement with local flavor through its Tea Drink Culture Festival. The four-day event, held from November 13 to 16 at Chaotou Central Park on Jiangmen Talent Island, offered visitors a chance to enjoy tea tastings, sports trials, and live markets alongside the sporting competitions.
The festival featured over 180 beverage and food brands, with activities including a themed fun run featuring the Games' mascots. To encourage spending, financial institutions distributed consumer vouchers totaling more than 12 million yuan. The timing coincided with medal events in Jiangmen, such as the gold won by Guangdong's synchronized swimming Wang twins, creating a natural flow of visitors from morning games to afternoon tea stalls and evening markets.
Jiangmen, known as the birthplace of "new Chinese-style tea drinks" and home to major brands like Heytea, has built a complete industry chain supplying over 20,000 tea beverage outlets nationwide. During the culture week, the local beverage chain Shaoling and provincial tea committees signed a cooperation agreement to share market data and promote the local tea industry across the region. Ten mixologists were honored for their creative recipes using local ingredients like tangerine peel and the herbal ingredient Hairy Fig.
"Health is the big trend in tea drinks," said Jiang Xionghui, chairman of the city's tea drink committee, whose company introduced a new beverage that blends Hairy Fig with jasmine tea and coconut water.
The festival also featured an "island sports meet" where visitors could try pickleball and tennis, while a "foreign trade products" zone offered export-quality kitchenware and home appliances.
Author | Feng Huiting
Photo | Nanfang Plus
Editor | Huang Qini, James Campion, Shen He
