The more artful tea rooms were Yechaguan, situated amid beautifully designed gardens that captured the changes reflected in each season. Qichaguan, or chess tea rooms, invited customers to sit for hours, lean over painted wooden chess boards to intently play their games while they drank tea “to forget their sufferings.” These sessions were called wangyoujin or “Mr. The host could also share an awareness of fine teas by ordering the best the tea house had to offer, a gesture indicating deep respect for the guest and no small effort to close the deal. By surrounding oneself with style and grace, drinking an exceptional tea served unobtrusively, people could engage in their most serious business conversations discretely. A SITE FOR BUSINESS, CHESS, VIEWING NATUREįor generations, and certainly in modern day, the tea house is the preferred place for the Chinese to conduct business. The two parties would formally offer apologies for engaging in a dispute, shake hands as a sign of agreement, pay for their tea and that of the arbiter, and depart in peace. No trial, no juries, just one person to smooth over disagreements until they were abated while all three quaffed pots of tea. Tea would be served, the conflicts discussed, and, quite often, a resolution ensued. Unlike most teahouses which were for casual conversation or places for entertainment, the Sichuan tea house also served as unofficial courts where disgruntled parties would meet with an arbiter to discuss their conflicts. The tea brewed was most likely the bowl-shaped compressed tea leaves, tuocha (primarily made of pu erh). The Sichuan teahouses historically offered tea in distinctive red copper teapots to pour into gaiwan of fine Jingdezhen porcelain. ![]() SOLVING DISPUTES, PLAYING CHESS, ENJOYING A VIEW Instead, two people engage in a comic dialogue spoken with the local dialect and imbued with news of the region to give a modern spin to classic tales.Ī third form was dagu, done with a performer who would both sing and speak the story accompanied by percussion instruments, usually a small bass drum also called dagu, played with two sticks. Incorporating all the tools of enchantment: acting, singing, and speaking, they wove a story, revealing only a segment each day which enticed customers to return over and over to hear all the chapters that would make up the complete “novel” over several months’ time.Īnother form of Chinese tea house storytelling, xiangsheng or crosstalk, originated in Tianjin, and is akin to modern-day stand-up comedy although rarely performed solo. In the Chinese tradition, these “novels” were performed live by professional storytellers, often twice a day. One form of storytelling, held in Shuchaguan, tea rooms, were spoken “novels.” These stories were told in ways similar to the penny novels of 19th century England where a small printed chapter was issued each week which readers would eagerly await to buy, penny in hand. Historians believe that tea houses first began in China during the Tang dynasty’s Kaiyuan era, era followed by the Song Dynasty when the entertainment element of a tea house was introduced with jugglers, poets, actors, opera singers, and storytellers. Today we're going to take a look at Chinese Teahouses as places where communities gather for news, entertainment, and tea! The Sichuan teahouses historically offered tea in distinctive a red copper teapots to pour into a gaiwan of fine Jingdezhen porcelain. PREV BACK TO MAIN NEXT Culture The History of Chinese Teahouses Augby Diana Rosen Historians believe that tea houses first began in China during the Tang dynasty’s Kaiyuan era.
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