Why do Chengdu people love tea the most?

1

There is an old saying: There are many yamen in Beijing, many merchants in Shanghai, many shops in Guangzhou, and many teahouses in Chengdu.

This is not surprising -

*Beijing is a city, and it is the capital. At the foot of the emperor, the most virtuous area, where the country is connected, where the center is, there are naturally many yamen;

*Shanghai is a beach, with an early opening and large stalls, a leading international metropolis, where all the world's winds and clouds meet, and the European style is beautiful When the tide comes back, there are naturally more foreigners and more foreign businesses;

* Guangzhou is a city that is business-oriented and traders make a living. If you don’t do business for a day, you won’t be able to live for a day. How can there not be many shops?

It can be seen that whether there are many yamen, many foreign firms, or many shops, it is all due to the nature of the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.

Chengdu is different.

Chengdu is not a capital city, so there is no need for so many yamen; there is no Bund, and there is no need for so many foreign banks. Of course there are shops in Chengdu, but most of them are restaurants, clothing stores, and grocery stores. There are few banks, commercial houses, and pawn shops with strong financial resources like Guangzhou. Because after all, Chengdu is not a "city" like Guangzhou, and it can't do as much business as Guangzhou if it doesn't want to.

Chengdu is a rich and abundant Tianfu, and it is "raised in a boudoir that no one knows". It is hidden deep in the mountains in the southwest of the motherland. It can only be gathered without dissipation, and there is no need to rush around as long as it is enjoyed. .

Chengdu, like Wuhan, is the kind of city that is neither east nor west nor south nor north: it is in the north based on the Yangtze River; it is in the south with the Qinling Mountains as its boundary; and it is at the same latitude as Wuhan , about the same distance from Lhasa and Shanghai.

However, the natural conditions in the two places are far different.

Wuhan has extremely cold winters and extremely hot summers, and has the disadvantages of east, west, and south; Chengdu has the advantages of east, west, north, and south without strong winds blowing in winter and no scorching sun in summer. Its sky is mild, its land is moist, and its products are extremely rich, and the prices of these products are very cheap.

Chengdu people living in this Feng Shui treasure land naturally don’t need to worry so much, expend so much effort, and do so many things. They just need to relax and live leisurely.

So, how to relax and have a leisurely time is of course in a teahouse.

2

Speaking of it, tea was originally a favorite thing of the Chinese people.

From east to west, from north to south, from workers, peasants, merchants, students, and soldiers, there are very few Chinese who do not like to drink tea.

However, Chengdu people love tea most, at least that’s what Chengdu people think.

Yes, Jiangsu and Zhejiang have green tea, Yunnan and Guizhou have low tea, Guangdong has morning tea, northwest has milk tea, southern Fujian has oolong tea, and Beijing has big bowl of tea, but Chengdu people don’t like it: green tea is too light, low tea Too thick, milk tea uses tea instead of rice, husband tea uses tea instead of wine, morning tea uses tea as a supporting role, and large bowl tea can only be called "cow drink". Only Chengdu's Gaiwan tea has both flavor and flavor. group.

It’s flavorful because Chengdu’s scented tea is fragrant, strong and long-lasting. It doesn’t matter if you brew a bowl of tea seven or eight times with water; it’s flavorful because it consists of a tea bowl, a tea lid and a tea boat. A well-prepared "gaiwan tea" was served in a teahouse.

Drinking tea in a teahouse is very different from making tea at home. Who doesn’t know how to make tea at home? Obviously, you can only truly love tea if you fall in love with a teahouse.

Chengdu people fall in love with teahouses.

It can be said that Chengdu people understand or express "tea love" as "teahouse love".

In fact, there are so many teahouses in Chengdu. According to "Chengdu General View", there were 516 streets and alleys in Chengdu in the late Qing Dynasty, and there were 454 teahouses. There were teahouses in almost every street and alley. In 1935, Chengdu's "Xinxin News" reported that there were 599 teahouses in Chengdu, with as many as 120,000 tea customers every day, forming an out-and-out "one hundred thousand army". At that time, the city's population was still 100,000. Less than 600,000. Excluding women and children who are unlikely to enter teahouses, the proportion of tea drinkers is undoubtedly a quite astonishing figure.

Besides, if 120,000 people enter the teahouse, how much tea will they drink in one day and how much time will it take? With so many teahouses and tea drinkers, Chengdu should really be called the "Teahouse Capital".

In fact, even today, the teahouses in Chengdu are probably the best in Sichuan, the best in China, and the best in the world.

In Chengdu, there are teahouses in downtown areas, tea stalls in back alleys, teahouses in parks, tea gardens in universities, and teahouses everywhere.

Especially in the old streets and alleys, within three or five steps, a teahouse will pop up, and the seats are almost full, the teahouse is full of tea drinkers, and the business is so good that it is unbelievable.

There are only two reasons for this: one is that there are many tea drinkers among the citizens, and the other is that tea drinkers spend a very long time drinking tea, which can last a long time. After coming and going, the teahouse was naturally overcrowded.

No wonder some people say, without exaggeration, that about half of the people in Chengdu live in teahouses. As for the other half, most of them went to hot pot restaurants. It seems that just as the city gate of Beijing is the "human gate" to interpret Beijing, the teahouses in Chengdu are also a key to interpreting Chengdu.

3

Teahouses are actually created by tea drinkers.

Impression of Chengdu Teahouse (Picture Source Network)

Not only are the number of tea drinkers in Chengdu the largest in the world, but also, just as the fans in Chengdu are qualified to think of themselves (almost at the same time) He is also recognized as the best football fan in China, and the tea drinkers in Chengdu are also qualified to consider themselves the first-class tea drinkers in China. Yes, all Chinese people love to drink tea, and Chengdu is not the only place with teahouses. But it seems that only Chengdu people love teahouses so much and are so addicted to tea. For them, the seven words "firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea" need to be read upside down. In authentic old Chengdu, people often yawn out of the door as soon as the sky breaks out, break away from the misty morning fog, and go straight to the steaming teahouse with a lot of people. Only when they get there can they really wake up from their dreams; and only there, if they take a sip of tea to rinse their mouths and then swallow the hot and fragrant tea soup, will they feel refreshed and refreshed. The body is healthy and truly alive.

Some people may say that this is nothing. Guangzhou people and Yangzhou people also love morning tea. Authentic Yangzhou people are just like Chengdu people. They go straight to the teahouse for morning tea at dawn. However, whether people from Guangzhou or Yangzhou eat so many snacks when having morning tea, it is unclear whether they are having morning tea or breakfast. What's more, people in Guangzhou actually still have their morning tea in hotels; while people in Yangzhou only have "shuibaopi" (teahouse) in the morning, and change it to "shuibaopi" (bathhouse) in the afternoon. It's not like us in Chengdu. People, from morning to night, have a special liking for teahouses and are loyal to them.

Perhaps it is precisely because Chengdu people love their teahouses so much that the simple and traditional teahouses will not become extinct in China. Isn't it? The teahouse that Lao She wrote as a symbol of old Beijing has long since disappeared, and Beijing's "tea culture" has turned into a "big bowl of tea culture." It is said that of the teahouses in Shanghai, only the Old Town God’s Temple and the Pavilion in the Heart of the Lake are left as embellishments. I don’t know what their condition is now. Of course, there are some new so-called "black tea houses" or "tea houses" in various places now, but most of them are luxuriously decorated, with sophisticated facilities, jewels, sophisticated and luxurious, and most of them have a few so-called "ladies" performing so-called "young ladies" of unknown origins there. "Tea Ceremony" or "Tea Art" charges surprisingly expensive "tea money". As for the atmosphere and fun of the old teahouse, of course there is none at all. To put it bluntly, they are just tourist attractions that are "fooled" by foreigners, and they are probably still "fake and inferior products."

However, Chengdu is very different. Although Chengdu now has high-end and luxurious new teahouses for wealthy people to show off, it also retains many simple and simple old teahouses for citizens to relax. These old teahouses are either street shops, shabby houses in alleys, riverside arbors, or open spaces among trees. They have three to five square tables, dozens of bamboo chairs, plus tiger stoves, large iron kettles (or large copper kettles), Covered bowls and tea sets have become a paradise for ordinary people in the market.

What are the benefits of having such a simple environment and venue? As Lin Wenxun said in the book "Chengdu People": "The environment is casual, the venue is simple, and the people who come and go are casual." Three religions and nine streams gather together. , no hierarchy is required, no etiquette is required, everyone is at ease: drinking tea and chatting, having a good time; reading and reading newspapers, closing eyes and relaxing, not disturbing each other, each enjoying his own place. You can say whatever you want, you can add water as much as you like, you can spit melon seed peels all over the floor, if you want to scold your mother, you can call her a "turtle son", wouldn't it be fun!

This is actually why Chengdu’s old teahouses are so popular. After all, drinking tea is not going to court, so why should we be so serious and polite? Tea drinkers come to teahouses originally to relax and have some leisure time. As the saying goes, "to take a break from the busy work, have a bowl of tea; to have fun, just grab a cigarette."

If you arrange some reception girls dressed up to pick you up and drop off, and the waiters stand respectfully to serve you, the tea guests will be dazzled and at a loss. They are afraid of making mistakes with their mouths and afraid of being ripped off in their hearts. Where can they relax, and what kind of leisure is there? The old teahouses in Chengdu can be said to be good at being "casual", so they are loved by Chengdu citizens. Even if they get rich and become "rich", many people still like to go to the simple, cheap and inconspicuous small teahouses.

Early morning at the Guanyin Pavilion Old Teahouse in Chengdu (picture source network)

However, although the atmosphere of the Chengdu teahouse is casual, and the tea is brewed, it is not casual at all. First, the tea set must be a tea bowl, a tea lid, and a tea boat, which is called "tea bowl with lid." The three-piece tea bowl has many advantages: the tea bowl is large at the top and small at the bottom, and is of moderate size, making it easy to make tea; the tea lid is insulated and breathable, stirring water and separating leaves, making it easy to drink tea; The design of the three-piece head is well-intentioned. Second, the water you pour must be freshly boiled boiling water. The first water is only half a cup, which is called "raising leaves". Wait until the dried tea leaves are moisturized and stretched before making the second shot. At this time, scalding boiling water flows down from the large teapot with a long mouth. The tea leaves rolling over and rolling under the impact of the boiling water, and then sinking to the bottom of the cup. A cup of tea soup becomes yellow-green and fragrant, which is very tempting. It is the Kung Fu of Chengdu teahouse and the art of Chengdu teahouse. It can be seen that the teahouses in Chengdu do not pay attention to service, but the service is very good, without any pretentiousness.

Who wouldn’t like such a teahouse with such enjoyment and casualness?

4

However, this is not all the reasons why Chengdu people love to enter teahouses.

I always think that the main reason why Chengdu people love to go to teahouses is because they can display their "Dragon Gate Formation" there. Chengdu people and Beijing people are probably the two most talkative groups in China. Some people say that as long as you swish around while working, choke when talking, don't rush to endorse books, and talk nonsense as soon as you sit down, you must be a Beijinger. As for those who both love to eat and love to talk, talk about eating without delay, and eat wherever they go and talk about it, most of them are from Chengdu. Anyway, people from Beijing or Chengdu are all "talkative people" who can't live a day without talking to each other. Interestingly, they all also love drinking tea, and they are particularly fond of scented tea. This is not surprising either. Because bragging and chatting, tea is absolutely indispensable. Without tea, talking will make your mouth dry and your interest will be greatly reduced, and you may even be unable to continue the conversation. With tea, it is completely different. Tea can not only quench thirst and promote body fluids, but also strengthen the brain and refresh the mind. After drinking a cup of tea, your mind will be brighter and your tongue will be more flexible. Then you will be able to talk more endlessly. Absolutely.

Therefore, the teahouses in Beijing and Chengdu are the most famous in China.

However, the strange thing is that Beijing’s teahouses have finally declined (this is something that makes many people who love old Beijing culture sad but have no choice), while Chengdu’s teahouses have flourished for a long time (this is something that many people who love old Beijing culture have no choice about). People who love the old Chengdu culture are secretly happy but worried), which is why I think, maybe it’s because although Beijingers and Chengdu people both like to talk, what they say and how they say it are not the same! To put it simply, people in Beijing talk nonsense, while people in Chengdu talk nonsense. People in Beijing talk big, and people in Chengdu gossip.

Kan has three meanings: upright, pleasant, and teasing. The so-called "talking freely" has the meaning of being upright and pleasant; while the so-called "ridicule" has the meaning of teasing. These three meanings are found in what Beijingers call "Talk about the Mountains", which means being confident, calm and humorous.

In fact, only those who are full of knowledge, eloquent and witty are qualified to be "Kanye"; only those who are lofty, eloquent and full of witty jokes are qualified to be called "Kanye". Talking about mountains". This is actually the nature of the city Beijing. Beijing is the capital, the capital, and the citizens of Beijing are almost half politicians. Politicians must first have a high vision and be condescending; secondly, they must be deep and calm; thirdly, they must be eloquent and eloquent. If you are condescending, you will be confident; if you are calm, you will be calm and unhurried; if you are eloquent, you will be naturally humorous. With such momentum, self-cultivation and level, of course, even the mountains can be "talked down", so "talking about the mountains" is also called "cutting down the mountains". It can be said that Foolish Old Man moved mountains with a hoe; Kanye moved mountains with his tongue.

Obviously, whether it is cutting down mountains or talking about mountains, what matters is the word "big", which means to speak "big words". How can "words" be "big"? Of course, first of all, the "topic" must be big, and the biggest topic is politics.

In fact, the so-called "talking about the mountains" by Beijingers mostly revolves around politics, but the attitude is mostly ridiculing, such as "One billion people talk about 900 million, and there are still 100 million left. "Jokes" such as "Development" best embody the characteristics of "talking about the mountains".

In this case, of course, it is not necessary to go to a teahouse to say it.

In fact, the gradual demise of teahouses in Beijing is not unrelated to the increasing number of places where Beijing can be spoken. Do you think, how many societies, associations, and salons are there in Beijing today? How many presentations, lectures, seminars were there? Most of these societies are jokingly called "Kan Xie" by Beijingers, so naturally they are good places for "talking about the mountains". If you are lucky, you might be able to go to the CCTV studio and be a guest or an audience member who can have a word in the conversation. That would be much more enjoyable than going to a teahouse, and it would also be a better way to point out the world and inspire words than in a teahouse.

Moreover, these places and occasions generally have tea, or you can bring your own tea. However, Beijingers are not so particular about the quality of tea and the way of making tea, so they do not necessarily have to " "Three-piece head" or "fresh boiled water" naturally does not necessarily mean going to a teahouse. Besides, there are people from all over the world in the teahouse from all walks of life, so how can we guarantee that we will meet someone who is "talkable"?

What's more, Beijingers who are good at talking and like to talk have the ability to transform all places. Become or regarded as a teahouse. For example, a "taxi" driver's teahouse is his car. He brought the tea with him; the seat was of course no problem; and the passengers who were constantly going up and down were his listeners and tea drinkers, but tea was not provided. "Iron-made camp and flowing water soldiers", in his small teahouse, there is never a worry that there is no "mountain" to "cut down", so why go to the teahouse again?

5

Chengdu people don’t have that much convenience. Their "talk" will always be held in the teahouse, and it can only be held in the teahouse. Why?

Because Chengdu people are not "politicians", but "petty citizens". They are not like the people in Beijing who think that "one person is responsible for the safety of the world" and can "restore the country with one word." What they want to talk about is "gossip" rather than "big talk." Even world affairs and national events are just talked about as gossip. Even if you are too "addicted to talk", gossip will not be on the stage. Chengdu people who love to gossip are also a bit "not on stage".

Most Chengdu people, even though they are usually eloquent, have a mouth that is faster and sharper than a knife, and are invincible in a quarrel, but if they really want to go on stage to give a speech, they will most likely stutter and be confused. , this and that, to no avail. It’s even more problematic to be a guest on a TV station: speaking in Sichuan dialect seems “wrong” (no TV station speaks Sichuan dialect); speaking in Mandarin, it’s hard to avoid “salt and pepper” (Chengdu people have never been good at speaking Mandarin) . It sounds awkward to others, but it doesn't sound smooth to you. How can you talk casually, comfortably, happily, and satisfactorily in a teahouse?

You can't go to the TV station, and you can't get it in a taxi.

Lin Wenxun, the author of the book "Chengdu People", once compared "taxi" drivers in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Chengdu. The conclusion is very interesting: drivers in Beijing like to talk to passengers, and drivers in Chengdu like to talk to passengers. drivers in Guangzhou like to talk to themselves, while drivers in Guangzhou hardly talk.

Why don’t drivers in Guangzhou speak?

I think there may be the following reasons:

First, Guangzhou people don’t like to talk. They are not as poor-talking as Beijing people and not as oily as Chengdu people;

Second, it is difficult for people in Guangzhou to speak Mandarin, and there are many foreigners among the passengers, so communication is difficult, so there is no interest;

Third, the traffic in Guangzhou is congested, and drivers must concentrate on driving and have long been accustomed to abide by traffic rules. , the professional habit of not talking while driving.

But I think the most important thing is that Guangzhou is a city and a commercial and international city. People living in this city have long been accustomed to handling interpersonal relationships according to contractual principles, and they also know that they must work hard and do a good job in order to survive well. The contract between the driver and the passenger is to deliver the destination safely and quickly, not to chat. Moreover, gossiping at work is against labor discipline and inconsistent with professionalism. In that case, why are you talking so much?

Beijing taxi drivers do not have these concepts. They are unwilling to regard their relationship with passengers as simply an employment relationship, let alone transport passengers as cargo.

How unhumane would it be if a fellow traveler didn't say a word? Therefore, he would rather treat the car as a teahouse and treat the passengers as tea lovers, and "tuck a pack of cards in his waist and follow whoever he sees."

What’s more, Beijing’s citizens are all “half-politicians.” Politicians will naturally not miss the opportunity to "do ideological and political work" or "express political opinions." Even if you don’t talk about politics, just talk about something else. You don’t need your mouth when driving. If you open your mouth, you will be free. You can say whatever you want, and everyone can relieve their boredom.

Shanghai taxi drivers generally fall between the two: if the passengers don’t want to talk, he won’t say a word; if the passengers want to say something, he will answer them fluently (but usually not about politics). Shanghai is a city with a tradition of high-quality service. Talking to passengers at their request is roughly regarded as one of the additional contents of the service, just like the customer has to bundle and package the things he has bought. The question is whether passengers have this requirement. If not, drivers in Shanghai will generally not be too talkative.

What is intriguing is the taxi driver in Chengdu.

Chengdu taxi drivers are neither willing to treat passengers as employers or goods like drivers in Guangzhou, nor are they willing to treat passengers as tea guests or buddies like drivers in Beijing, but he can't help but want to Talking, there is no way to wait for passengers to take the initiative to chat.

So he turned on the intercom and chatted endlessly with his brothers, sisters, and sisters, or listened quietly as the brothers and sisters "opened a teahouse in the sky" and "fighted lawsuits", which was equivalent to himself and himself say. Very few people are willing to chat with passengers. This is not surprising either. "The seventh-grade official in front of the prime minister's door", a driver in the Land of Abundance, who cares about serving your "beating" masters?

Sure enough, driving is work after all, not leisure; taxis are tools after all, not teahouses. Only teahouses, as Jia Pingwa said, are a "state of selflessness" ("Short Notes on Entering Sichuan"). Chengdu's teahouses, even the lowest-end ones, are a bit fresh (I suspect it comes from the bamboo tables and chairs and clear water and tea). Sitting in the teahouse, holding a cup of tea, listening to the conversation around me, my mouth is full of fragrance and my ears are full of pure sound, and I have no interest in talking and want to say something.

In short, only teahouses are the forum for Chengdu people. Only there, the eloquent Chengdu talents can fully demonstrate their "eloquence" and make the "Dragon Gate Formation" majestic and colorful.