Tea, a part of Chinese traditional culture, is a typical health beverage and a means to promote the Chinese culture. The Chinese have been drinking tea from ancient times and have developed a profound "Tea Culture" that promotes carefree, exquisite, refreshing and scholarly characters. The teahouse has been an ideal place for literati through Chinese history to vent out their sentiments and talk about their aspirations. Chinese tea drinkers have developed various varieties of the tea culture. When one comes to a teahouse he will feel he has arrived in an old neighborhood in an ancient city. Most of the teahouses in Beijing have put on a new appearance. But they have preserved the essential elements of those in old times.

CHAPTER I

TEA CULTURE IN BEIJING

Part I Tea Drinking in Old Beijing

Part II Tea Ceremony, Customs and Rituals

Part III Buddhist Temples and Tea

CHAPTER II

TEA DRINKING AMONG

COMMON BEIJING

RESIDENTS

Part I Famous Tea Stores

Part II Lao She Teahouse, Favored by Foreigners

CHAPTER III

TIANQIAO AMLSEMENT

TEA GARDEN AND

OTHER TEAHOUSES

CHAPTER IV

FAMOUS TEA ART

HOUSES

ADDRESS