At the tea house

May 11th, Wednesday

The bell and drum towers

yandai xie jie

We needed a quieter day than the previous two and it was her mother's idea for Sha to take us to the city's most peaceful area, where the river forms two lakes, Lake Houhai and Lake Qianhai, north of the Bei Hai park in the inner city. We got off the bus at the Drum Tower, with the Bell Tower adjacent, where the arrival of visitors to the Emperor's court used to be announced in the age of Kublai Khan, and walked from there onto a pedestrian thoroughfare that used to be called the Hutong Gulou and is now known as the yandai (meaning tobacco pouch). It's a narrow street, like the ones in the old port of Quebec or the Shambles in York, nowadays aimed at tourists.

Gift shop in the Hutongs

By the water were many boathouses and people offering massages. The restaurants and the rickshaws were for foreigners, but the local people seemed to like this area too, with old men playing card games under the trees and mums with children strolling along.

The giant teapot and teacups

Beside Qianhai Lake we found the Tang Ren tea house. Everything about the place was attractive and it was too early in the day for many other customers. Dark wooden screens and window frames with a giant teapot outside to advertise the service. Inside, walls of orchids and other plants, rocky water features and parrots and minah birds in bamboo cages at the doorway, a bead curtain to the inner room. Guzheng (zither) music was playing and incense sticks burning; a relaxed and friendly cat sprawled on the window seat. We sat on plump, embroidered, silk cushions in a booth opposite the window where a tea service was laid out on a wooden tray with slats for drainage, the tiny porcelain cups without handles reminding me of the dolls' tea parties I used to host as a child. A jade rabbit stood on the tray as well. Small lanterns and stuffed ornaments, red fish, dangled over the window or hung on the walls and an indoor fountain splashed in the corner. On the wall between our seats hung a lacquered painting of a goldfish pond with lily pads. The lamp stand on our table was decorated with a bronze horse and chariot covered by a parasol.

Sha sat on a little stool at the head of the table to act as translator when the girl approached with the tea menu on a bamboo scroll. We chose a delicate variety of green tea, the leaves manipulated by wooden utensils. With slow movements but rapid speech the tea girl showed us how to hold our cups properly, ladies extending the little finger as they drank. Much pouring of hot water to warm and clean the tea ware. The green rabbit had hot water poured over it too at regular intervals, at which its head and ears turned pale, almost white. Our tea was poured out between the lid and lip of the pot, then with our full cups on wooden saucers we sat back sipping the tea and munching on a tray of peanuts with a lacquered bowl for the shells.

The experience had an amazingly relaxing effect on us all.

Sally wants to run a tea house in York!

Card players by Qianhai Lake

View from the window of the Tang Ren tea house

Sally at our tea table

Sha at the entrance to the tea house. The bird said "ni hǎo!"

Rickshaws being pedalled round the lake