Visual Epic · Seasons • Migrations • Contrasts

Not a brochure, but a living exhibition—from the wisdom of the solar terms to Silk Road ingredient journeys—told with international clarity and a curator’s care.

Seasonal Wisdom · 24 Solar Terms

Tap a term to preview in-season ingredients. This is the concise UI version; long-form notes can be expanded later.

Silk Road Migrations · Tea & Pepper

Routes are illustrative for web display; scholarship references are listed below.

Tea

  • Origins: SW China (Jingmai/Xishuangbanna ancient forests)
  • Nodes: Hexi Corridor → Persia → Arabia → Byzantium → Kyoto → Russia → London
  • Highlights: Tang tea-horse trade; Chāi in Persian; British afternoon tea.

Pepper

  • Origins: Kerala, India (earliest domestication)
  • Nodes: Persian Gulf → Chang’an → Quanzhou → Malacca → Banda → Hainan
  • Highlights: “Black gold” in Venice; VOC plantations; Hainan as China’s hub.

Academic disputes (sea vs. land) can be added later as toggleable layers; for now we present a clean backbone.

Contradictory Aesthetics

Ink vs. Pixels diptych

Ink vs. Pixels

Classical ink blankness meets digital pixel flow—poise amid information overload.

Bronze vs. Silicone diptych

Bronze vs. Silicone

Bronze ferocity and silicone tenderness—material dialectics between strength and warmth.

Dunhuang vs. Quantum diptych

Dunhuang vs. Quantum

Coffered order × superposition—tradition and frontier breathing on the same canvas.

Ink side
Pixels side

Balance (Interactive)

Drag to tune the balance between ink density and pixel intensity—participatory aesthetics.

References · Academic sources (expand)
Lu, Y. (2025) The Silk Road and Chinese Tea Culture, Cambridge UP · Needham, J. (1986) Science and Civilisation in China, Vol. 6, Cambridge UP · Miller, J. (2025) Spices in World History, OUP · UNESCO (2023) Jingmai Mountain Ancient Tea Forests · Hainan Dept. of Agriculture (2024) China Pepper Industry White Paper.