Hong Kong-style milk tea takes centre stage at cultural exhibition in Taiwan

Thousands of cups of Hong Kong's "silk-stocking" milk tea will be served to visitors at an exhibition in Taiwan showcasing the city's cultural heritage.

Intangible cultural heritage will take centre stage at Hong Kong Week 2014 in Taipei, the third annual showcase presented by the Hong Kong-Taiwan Cultural Cooperation Committee.

The October 17 to November 2 exhibition will feature 480 items that best represent the Hong Kong community and provide cultural continuity. "We can showcase Hong Kong history, tradition, personality and local products," said committee convenor Fredric Mao Chun-fai.

Previous Hong Kong Week exhibitions have featured contemporary art, music, design and dance. This year's event would feature a mix of serious and lighthearted attractions, Mao said.

Chau Hing-wah, curator of the Heritage Museum, told the South China Morning Post the exhibition would feature items of cultural heritage not included in Unesco's list or the national list, but which were on the city's inventory, such as Hong Kong-style milk tea. Hong Kong's inventory was announced in June and was drawn up following passage of a UN convention on safeguarding intangible cultural heritage.

Simon Wong Ka-wor, chairman of the Association of Coffee and Tea of Hong Kong - which runs the International Kam Cha, or milk tea, competition to pick the master milk tea brewer - said Mok Pui-ling, last year's champion, would make 2,000 cups of milk tea at the exhibition.

The association estimates Hongkongers drink 2.5 million cups of milk tea per day at nearly 10,000 milk-tea outlets in the city.