Top Teahouse Maintains Old Beijing Traditions

Few people, if any, would dispute that Lao She is Beijing's best-known and most visited teahouse, even though it was established as recently as 14 years ago. Named after a famous Chinese author whose major works included Teahouse, the real-life Lao She has numbered top Chinese leaders, former US president George Bush and former UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim among its guests.

Today, its high reputation confirmed, it has become a "must" on the itineraries of Chinese and foreign tourists alike.

Even though a comparative newcomer to the teahouse sector, Lao She sits happily among famous, long-established brand outlets in the city's Qianmen area--a kind of new boy quickly made good. Some people say that its small, antique-style main gate is a lucky charm which attracts people and good business. Passers-by often pause to examine and touch the gate in hope of some good fortune of their own.

More realistic is that the 250-seat Lao She's very decor and atmosphere are the lure, for on entering the 1,500sq.m teahouse, guests find themselves stepping back to the more raucous days of Old Beijing, when the city bore no comparison to today's high-rise metropolis.

Lao She is made extra memorable for its servings of the very best of Chinese teas, snacks and delicacies identical to the daily fare of Qing Dynasty emperors. Guests are also richly entertained by stage performers who continue to keep alive the acts familiar to their ancestors--acrobats, magicians, strongmen, cross-talking comedians and other professionals.

Unique Tea Feasts

China's food and drink cultures are rich and varied. In this context, Lao She Teahouse also offers a special Tea Feast, derived from the ancient Nanbei Dynasty when such an occasion was a gathering of the top social classes and monks. While these guests were sipping famous tea, they would write poems to express their emotions.

Their Tea Feast some 3,000 years ago was unique in that the tea was mixed into a particular course and served as a food rather than a drink, a practice described in a book titled Spring and Autumn which relates how a head of state enjoyed tea as a dish.

Today, Lao She's Tea Feast is also a meal served in the form of tea, only with far more variations than in olden times. The "tea dishes" are created by a chef skilled in the culinary art who takes full advantage of the availability of modern ingredients which did not exist in ancient times.

Much attention is paid to the nutritional qualities of these meals, which are meticulously cooked at appropriate temperatures that don't "dry out" the tea and deprive the diner of proteins, amino acids and vitamin C. A spokesman stressed that the modern Tea Feasts are "medically effective" and help guests to retain their good health.