The Old Shanghai Teahouse

Originally posted 1st February 2015

The Old Shanghai Tea House

We had been wandering around the Old City in Shanghai for quite a few hours and felt in need of a pick me up, so we headed for The Old Shanghai Teahouse, which was described in the guidebook as much like barging into someone’s attic.

Antiques cover the walls

Antiques decorated the walls

We climbed the rickety stairs and indeed we were cast back in time, to a date around 1930, where the owner of the shop was dressed in traditional dress of the period, (barring his trainers) and various antiques and ancient maps decorated the alcoves and the walls. It was another welcome respite from the throng outside and we stayed for a long time over our Guanyin tea, which was served

Tea served in the gongfu manner

Xiaolongbao - Shanghai dumplings

in the traditional gongfu manner, together with Shanghai dumplings known as Xiaolongbao 小笼包

We had chosen them from a menu written on a rolled bamboo menu (Chinese vertically on the front, English horizontally on the back) and although it was pricey we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.   

A couple of youngish Chinese girls started looking at the antiques, intrigued at what they might be – a cylinder vacuum cleaner caused them some consternation and some giggles when they found out what it was and were even more surprised when Richard told them that his grandmother had owned one, and I, that my mother had.

Rolled bamboo menu

John Hix Strange As It Seems Map of Shanghai

Another of the antiques was a poster  - a John Hix Strange As It Seems Map of Shanghai, which was a very interesting read about Shanghai around the time of the Japanese invasion of China.  It is highly informative and worth expanding the image to take a closer look.  There is a propaganda poster museum in Shanghai - I don't know if it covers this period, but I'm going to go there to see if I can get a copy.

Brocade-jacketed musicians

One of the reasons we stayed so long was because just as were about to leave two men turned up, one with a stand and a big case. Both were dressed in brocaded jackets and our curiosity got the better of us. The stand was eventually set up between endless puffs on a cigarette, the case opened and out came a yangqin a Chinese hammered dulcimer (google is incredibly useful). The other man fetched out his Chinese bamboo flute (a Dizi) and after waiting some 15 minutes for their appointed time, with a little bit of tuning in the meantime, began to play.