Synopses & Reviews
This is the first book-length history of Chinese teahouses in the English-speaking world or in China. The Teahouse examines economic, social, political, and cultural changes as funneled through the teahouses of Chengdu during the first half of the twentieth century. The images brought together in this work paint a complete picture of everyday culture in the most basic unit of public life. This microhistorical examination of the teahouse and public life takes us into the heart of a city to explore urban society in depth, and provides a new way to look at the Chinese city and at daily life.
Review
"Well written and free of distracting jargon, the book is a pleasure to read."Richard Belsky, American Historical Review
Review
"The appealing aspect of the book is that it also draws attention to the larger urban context of the city .... By focusing on the teahouse, the author enables us to understand concretely the dynamics of the city's small industries that have been little touched upon by current scholarship."Tomoko Shiroyama, International Journal of Asian Studies.
Review
"Di Wang's pioneering and well-researched study of the teahouse...links together the seemingly disparate issues of small business practices, everyday life, and public politics."Joshua H. Howard, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies
Review
"Wang makes a significant contribution with his microstudy of an old and ubiquitous social, business, and cultural institution in Chengdu."CHOICE
Review
"Wang's familiarity with Chengdu history and its archival sources allows him to examine the social and economic life of the teahouse in rich detail, and he has done that splendidly in this valuable and important study." Joseph W. Esherick, University of California, San Diego
Review
"Wang Di's The Teahouse is an extensively researched and detailed description of public life in Chengdu that touches upon many aspects of Chinese urban history in the first half of the twentieth century."Toby Lincoln, CHINA REVIEW INTERNATIONAL
Synopsis
This study examines economic, social, political, and cultural changes as funneled through the teahouses of Chengdu during the first half of the twentieth century.
About the Author
Di Wang is Professor of History at Texas A&M University. He is also the author of Street Culture in Chengdu: Public Space, Urban Commoners, and Local Politics, 1870-1930 (Stanford, 2003).