Xuegu (学古)

Xuegu was founded by Kong Hongqiang, a 76th-generation descendant of Confucius and a recognized municipal-level transmitter of Chaozhou gongfu tea as intangible cultural heritage. The brand traces its name to 2015, when Kong came across a Qing Dynasty bamboo armrest inscribed with the characters "学古" — "study the ancient" — and took it as the encapsulation of what he wanted to build: a way of making practitioners of Eastern living happier through tea. That idea now takes physical form at Fuzhi Humanistic Space in Shenzhen's Shekou district, where Xuegu operates a tea-culture venue built around a self-described "civilian ancient tea vessel museum" holding more than 10,000 historic pieces, reportedly the first collection of its kind assembled and shown to the public in China. Alongside the museum, Xuegu designs and sells its own tea goods — including a signature "Heritage Teapot" among more than 100 objects for daily tea use — and produces Chaozhou gongfu tea sets and reproduction furniture, sold through the venue and an official Tmall flagship store. The company has run more than 1,500 tea-culture gatherings nationwide, positioning itself less as a retailer and more as a working center for Chaozhou gongfu tea practice, backed by one of the largest privately assembled antique-teaware collections open to visitors in China.