The Teahouse

by Wang, Di

• ISBN13: 9780804758437
• ISBN10: 0804758433
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-06-11
• Publisher: Stanford Univ Pr

Summary

This is the first book-length history of Chinese teahouses in either the English-speaking world or in China, examining economic, social, political, and cultural changes as funneled through the teahouses of Chengdu during the first half of the twentieth century. The images that are brought together in this work paint a complete picture of everyday culture in the most basic unit of public life. This examination of the teahouse and public life from the perspective of microhistory takes us into the depths of a city to explore urban society in depth and provides a new way to look at the Chinese city and at everyday culture.

Author Biography

Di Wang is an Associate Professor of History at Texas A&M and the author of three previous books, including Street Culture in Chengdu: Public Space, Urban Commoners, and Local Politics, 1870-1930 (Stanford, 2003), which won the Best Book (Non-North American) Award for 2005 from the Urban History Association.

Table of Contents

List of Tables, Maps, and Figures	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
A Note on Currencies	p. xv
Abbreviations	p. xvii
Introduction: The City, Teahouses, and Everyday Culture	p. 1
The Teahouse
A Small Business	p. 27
The Teahouse Guild	p. 57
Labor and Workplace Culture	p. 84
Teahouse Life
Public Life	p. 113
Entertainment	p. 135
All Walks of Life	p. 167
Teahouse Politics
Conflicts in Public	p. 203
A Political Site	p. 224
Conclusion: The Triumph of Small Business and Everyday Culture	p. 249
Comparison of Tea and Rice Prices, 1909-1948	p. 265
Character List	p. 267
Notes	p. 285
Works Cited	p. 323
Index	p. 341
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.