Chapter 70 teahouses in beijing

Peking Opera is the quintessence of the country, and tea culture is also the quintessence of the country.The teahouses in old Beijing are a kind of tea culture with strong civic atmosphere—it is slightly different from the tea ceremony of literati.The tea ceremony is too profound to say, it seems that one can only get it with a pure heart and few desires.Obviously drinking tea, but it is elegantly called "tasting tea", it seems to be tasting the taste of life.This otherworldly realm is beyond the reach of ordinary people.The teahouses in old Beijing did the opposite. Not only were they not clean places, they were often noisy and lively.This is related to the personality of Beijingers: they are afraid of being deserted, love to communicate, and especially like to chat in groups (or called Kan Dashan)... Teahouses provide such a social place for chatting and calling friends.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, teahouses spread all over the streets and alleys of Beijing.At the same time, in Paris, France, cafes are popular—artists even hold art exhibitions and salons in cafes.It can be seen that no matter which ethnic group has its own way of leisure.Lao She paid the most attention to teahouses, because the teahouses were filled with people he was interested in—not only interested in their topics, but also interested in their fate.He wrote a play called .To this day (half a century later), "Human Art" still often repeats this classic - it is said that the actors have changed to the fifth dial.It’s just that people who watched (including those who acted) have never been to a teahouse, and they can’t imagine the glory of the teahouse in the past.They are very familiar with the teahouse (even can recite the character list), but they are very strange to the real teahouse.Modern youth prefer to go to bars in Sanlitun, and are more obsessed with Oufengmeiyu.

What Lao She wrote was to set up a biography for the Beijing of that era, and set up a monument for the Beijingers of that era.To thank him for his painstaking efforts, a Lao She teahouse was specially opened in the Qianmen area, imitating the style of the old era - occasionally there will be a program such as Peking Opera singing.Customers who come here especially for the name, do they want to drink tea, or to miss Lao She, the owner who no longer exists?I think of it as the Lao She Memorial Hall in Beijing—it’s just that I chose another form.Ordering a pot of tea is equivalent to buying a ticket, and I stepped into the tunnel of time.Then I saw the shadow of Lao She.The tea in Lao She Teahouse is more intoxicating than wine, and it has all kinds of flavors.This is soaked in decades of time - Lao She has been martyred for 38 years.But as long as the teahouse is still open and there are people patronizing it, it proves that Lao She is still alive and still alive in the memory of Beijing.A dead man who lives forever.

The big bowl of tea at Qianmen is famous.Camel Xiangzi drank this kind of tea.Drinking tea from a bowl instead of a cup is also considered a major feature of the life of the old Beijing people.Big bowl of tea, what a generous, open-minded and simple name.When I first moved to Beijing, a large bowl of tea cost only 30 cents a bowl (and a bottle of Erguotou only cost 2 yuan), but the price has gone up now. There were many kinds of teahouses in the late Qing Dynasty.The most high-end one is the Qingcha House, which is used for youngsters to rest after walking the birds in the morning (there is a place to hang birdcages on the roof), and for vendors to discuss business at noon.There are also book teahouses (there are entertainers singing storytelling and drum lyrics), chess teahouses (chess boards are painted on the tea table for customers to play chess), wine teahouses (also sell wine) and so on.In short, all three religions and nine streams have found a paradise that suits their own tastes. The book "Criticism" of Beijingers analyzes: "In a more empty sense, the teahouse has changed from a place of entertainment for ordinary people and merchants to a refuge for people who are in trouble and confused. Most people, from What you feel in the teahouse is an extremely practical and spiritual enjoyment. It is said to be "practical" because it does not indulge in fantasies and puts enjoyment into reality. This is the real place of tea and snacks; Because you don’t indulge in reality, you stay away from eating and drinking, and focus on harmony, tranquility, and self-satisfied bearing and demeanor. This includes the life design and creation of ordinary people under the constraints of material conditions, which is limited by means of limited materials. Satisfaction. It is the pursuit and acquisition of pleasure based on the premise of acknowledging the constraints of real conditions on people. It is an artistic way of life or means of leisure. In this way of leisure, Beijingers are also worried about their personality being suppressed, Individual needs are ignored, and limited satisfaction is found." With a cup of tea, the old Beijinger took pity on his own shadow.In the lively atmosphere of the teahouse, they forgot their loneliness.In the relaxed feeling of the teahouse, they gained instant freedom.In this moment away from trivialities and mundane affairs, they are their own, they truly become their own masters.

Pan Zhiwu wrote an article "Aspects of Teahouses in Old Beijing": "Teahouses in old Beijing are scattered all over the city, whether it is the Qianmen, Drum Tower, Sipailou, Shanpailou and other thoroughfare avenues, or in the remote alleys that are as numerous as cow hair. Just like what Mr. Lao She wrote, since the Republic of China, the social turmoil and the depression of all industries have made it even more difficult for teahouses with small capital and little profit to maintain. By the eve of liberation, there were only a handful of teahouses left in Beijing.” The decline of teahouses, political , economic reasons, but also a pondering cultural phenomenon.Times have changed and there are fewer idlers.Even if I have free time, I'm afraid I don't have leisure time.Or. "Leisure" is no longer an ideal of life worth showing off and enviable.

In the 1930s, the tea houses in Zhongshan Park were very famous - equivalent to today's Sanlitun Bar Street.There are five or six places in total, and the most lively ones are Chunming Pavilion, Changmeixuan, and Bosixin.Many old people still remember their names.Teahouses have gradually evolved into teahouses and moved into parks (during the imperial era, these parks were forbidden by the royal family), which shows that Beijingers are paying more and more attention to the surrounding environment and background.Sitting in the altar, temple and social garden once monopolized by the emperor alone, drinking tea freely feels good.No wonder Xie Xingyao said: "Everyone who has been to Peiping, who doesn't deeply miss the teahouses in Zhongshan Park? Especially those who have lived in Peiping for a long time, almost all use the teahouses in the park as their leisure places or public paradise. Many of them have traveled around Chinese and foreign friends who have traveled all over the world said to me: The best place in the world is Beiping, and the best place in Beiping is the park. The most comfortable place in the park is the teahouse. Personally, I think this kind of statement is neither too much nor absurd Because that place has fresh and warm air, exquisite and elegant scenery, beautiful and simple buildings, and very modern and very old-style people of all kinds, but these are just its objective conditions. As for its subjective The conditions it possesses can also be said to be its "principal beauty". What other places can't catch up with is that it has exotic flowers and trees that meet the four seasons in material, and has thousands of years and hundreds of years of beauty. In Dabaishu, each teahouse has its special famous snacks besides "tea good". As for the spirit, once people come here, because the natural scenery is very beautiful and peaceful, they can wash away all boring thoughts and refresh their minds. Forget about all the sad things for a while, and here and now, sitting on a wooden table, a wicker chair, and a pot of fragrant tea, I seem to be greatly comforted." As for the teahouses in the park, are they the degeneration of teahouses? Still a kind of progress?In terms of the objective environment and the mentality of drinkers, teahouses are definitely more open than teahouses, and they can also strengthen communication and exchanges between heaven, earth, and people.

Teahouses are naturally not exclusive to Beijing.Teahouses in Sichuan, Yunnan and other places are not necessarily inferior to those in Beijing.However, there are still some differences between the teahouse culture in the south and the north.The teahouses in Beijing are a reflection of the living habits and ways of thinking of Beijingers at the foot of the emperor.The reason why Beijing’s teahouses are famous all over the world is due to Lao She’s relationship (he made live advertisements for Beijing’s teahouses), and on the other hand, it is itself a living drama. Its rise and fall and the fate of its guests are the most telling Reflect the shadow of the changing times.In the whole of China, it seems that no one is more humorous, talkative, playful, idle and concerned about current affairs than Beijingers. Therefore, the topics of Beijingers' tea should be considered the most abundant and interesting.

The teahouse is also a place for them to vent their talents (even eloquence).As for the act of drinking tea itself, it is secondary.Citizens of old Beijing generally love jasmine tea and drink it in all seasons.This makes the southerners who are proficient in tea art despise. Southerners think that green tea is the authentic one. The so-called flower tea is either because the tea is not fresh (the jasmine petals can be baked to cover up the odor and it is easy to store), or it is a hobby. Those who are not experts: pay attention to the fragrance of flowers but ignore the fragrance of tea itself.The teahouses in Beijing are indeed far away from the sacred tea ceremony, and Beijingers do not believe that drinking tea can make you become immortal.But this just proves the purpose of drinking tea in Beijing: the drunkard's intention is not to drink.A teahouse where people come and go is a big stage, and teahouses are used for watching, listening to and even acting.Everyone is a part of it.Teahouses are the epitome of society.