Living traditions of China

This is how China still drinks tea: at a low table in a shop, in a noisy teahouse, by the fire pit in a mountain house, and sometimes with a spoon, like soup.

The most intimate of these customs is Chaozhou gongfu: a tiny pot, three cups holding 25 to 35 ml each and a charcoal stove. First described in 1801, it has been on a UNESCO list since 2022. After 1971 it grew in Taiwan into the chayi movement, which added the fair cup and the aroma cup to the set, introduced an exam for brewing masters, and in 1990 held the first wuwo gathering, where there is neither host nor guest. Modern chaxi took shape there too: a tea table arranged around one tea and one idea. In 2005 Qiao Musen counted nine elements in it.

People go to a teahouse for a seat and some company. In Canton tea comes with dim sum. In Sichuan boiling water is poured from a copper kettle with a spout up to a meter long, and in Beijing, from 1979 on, a bowl of "big bowl tea" cost 2 fen.

In the south and southwest, tea turns into food. The peoples of Yunnan roast the leaf in a clay pot by the fire pit and only then pour on boiling water, and the Bai of Dali serve it in three courses. The Hakka grind lei cha in a ridged mortar with sesame and peanuts, and the Yao and Dong of Guangxi pound you cha with ginger in a cast-iron pot.