The Aesthetics of the Great Tea Road in a Contemporary Context: Cultural and Creative Product Design

The subject of this study is the artistic aesthetics of the Sino-Russian "Great Tea Road" and its transformation into contemporary cultural and creative design. The aim of the study is to systematically identify the key aesthetic dimensions of the material heritage of the Tea Road and develop a scientifically grounded methodology for adapting it to create cultural and creative products. The methodology is based on an interdisciplinary synthesis of art history and artistic design. The analysis relies on material artifacts (tea bricks, trademarks, packaging, utensils, advertising posters, and vehicles) using Peirce's triadic semiotics and the concept of intercultural aesthetic adaptability. Results: A three-level structure of the aesthetics of the Tea Road has been established: material (a synthesis of Chinese ornamentation and Western design), communicative (ritualized forms of intercultural exchange), and spiritual (the values of fair trade and cultural inclusiveness). A logic of aesthetic transformation has been developed: "decoding symbols – aesthetic translation – reconstruction of functions – cultural translation." A theoretical framework for the cultural and creative design of "intercultural aesthetic symbioticity" is proposed. It includes four levels: the value core of symbiosis, the transformation of bicultural symbols through the "key + auxiliary symbols" model, functional adaptation to differentiated consumer scenarios, and a digital translation matrix. Scope: designing cultural and creative products for the Chinese-Russian market, intercultural artistic exchange, and cultural and tourism projects along the Tea Road. The novelty lies in the systematization of the aesthetic parameters of intercultural heritage through the analysis of authentic artifacts and the creation of an operationalizable design methodology that ensures a balance of cultural authenticity and contemporary adaptability. Conclusions: The contemporary inheritance of traditional intercultural heritage requires the integration of art history as the foundation of cultural continuity and artistic design as a tool for activating traditional aesthetics. Cultural and creative products serve as an effective medium for transmitting intercultural aesthetic values and facilitating Chinese-Russian cultural dialogue.