Tea house is the park for tea-lovers, also the place for the rest, entertainment, and communication. Early in the Kai Yuan of Tang Dynasty, tea shops had appeared in the town, the customer could pay and drink freely, that is the primary form of tea house. Chinese tea house has a long time, it had been recorded in the Jin Dynasty. Since ancient times, there are many names for the tea drinking place, it’s often called tea house in the area of the Changjiang River; tea building in Guangdong and Guangxi; tea kiosk in the area of Beijing and Tianjing.
A shop sign is hoisted high outside
Clear sign beside the teahouse doof
Tea house and tea booth is both tha place for drinking tea, but comparing with each other, they are different in scale and way to drink tea. Tea house has a fixed place, so that people can sit down to drink tea and relax themselves. However tea booth is seasonal and transfers from a place to another, its main purpose is to make pedestrians convenient to quench. With the development of the economic and the expanding of citizen layer, entertainment needs increase, and as a multi-function place with leisure, catering, entertainment, trade and other functions, tea house becomes the first choice. So the tea-house business has been developed greatly, the form and function both increases.
In urban area of my city, you can see the tea house around every corner, almost one every ten or twenty meters.Tea house’s social function is diversified, you can chat while eat melon seeds here, even to do millions of business. In mid-1990s, Tea house appeared initially in my city, and became a fashion consumption place for its elegant style and quiet environment immediately. The way of entertainment was very popular in urban area, with the theme of talking and tasting tea. But now the theme has been weakened, tea house becomes an integrated place with mahjong service mainly and other service such as surfing internet or catering. The public entertainment thrives with the “tea house” appearance. Now, going to the tea house means playing mahjong or cards. The “tea” smell is less and less light, but the smell of gambling, money and common customs is becoming more and more thick. This change reflects a series of cutural, economic and social changes.
old teahouse in past
old teahouse in 1960s
teahouse in Ming and Qing Dynasty
Build a seven-star kitchen range
Bronze pot for boiling water strongl
Lay‘Eight Immortals’table
Serve customers everywhere
teahouse in 1990s
decorations in morden teahouse
Huacong Middle School in Bazhong City of Sichuan Province Tea Culture Team
