Chongqing- Wagashi is a highly elegant Japanese confection traditionally enjoyed by high society over the centuries. Made from plant-based ingredients and intricately shaped into flower patterns, they are typically used for hospitality and gifts, and consumed with green tea.
However, few people know the delicacy originated in the Tang Dynasty, and now an enterprising lady named Song Lei from Chongqing, who recently learnt the art form during a sojourn in Japan, has brought the wagashi ‘back home’ and now makes them at her Lijian Tea Art studio in the Ecool Cultural Innovation Park in the Liangjiang New Area.
The downtown Ecool Cultural Innovation Park attracted Song because many artistic and creatively minded young entrepreneurs have chosen this attractive location to set up businesses, which has provided a conducive atmosphere for Song to publicize wagashi to a receptive consumer base.
Cultural innovation parks in Chongqing are typically renovated industrial sites that combine artistic retro elements with modern standard amenities, which have attracted creative entrepreneurs to set up businesses amid a rich cultural ambiance. In the case of Ecool, the site used to be a processing factory for export goods, but is now home to a wide variety of culturally orientated businesses including teahouses, restaurants, galleries and studios.
In this installment of a Shopping Capital of China, iChongqing reporter James Alexander takes the audience inside Ecool Cultural Innovation Park to experience the glamour of wagashi and share the story behind the Lijian Tea Room from Song Lei herself.