Many people don't know it, but Beijing's Lao She Tea House just may be the best place in the world to admire some truly great china tea sets and drink some amazing Chinese tea.

Former U.S. Former U.S president George H. and Jordanian queen Rania have even been here and rave about the service.

There's just so much here, you can never be bored.

The building itself is a Qing dynasty-style loft structure, so the establishment really brings you back in time at your first sight! The waiters are all dressed in ancient outfits, and greet you in an interesting tone that immediately invokes the feel of old Beijing tea houses.

If you're looking for some entertainment with your tea, the Lao She Tea House will never disappoint. From Kung Fu to Peking Opera, you can see it all here, while a great China tea set is sitting on your table. Some art forms are never seen outside of China, like cross-talk, and are really a sight. Cross talk is actually quite funny, if you like Chinese humor.

But one of the most loved performance is the "Face Changing" act. The dancer moves around the stage wearing a mask, and with swift, almost invisible movements, he changes the mask instantly. With just a flick of the wrist, you can see different colors on his face, as the mask changes from red, blue, white, and other colors. Altogether, some performers change their masks almost 40 times.

But that's not you'll get at the Lao She tea house.The waiters here perform a kind of acrobatics when they pour your tea. But before even beginning, the China tea sets they use are quite usual and have a long, thin spouts with a length of over 5 feet! To serve your tea, the waiter spins the pot around his body, and then pours tea into each and every cup, never spilling a drop. It takes years of study to serve tea in this way, and you'll never see anything like it anywhere else in the world.

You can also snack on a variety of Beijing snacks as you enjoy the shows. Lv Da Gun-literally meaning rolling donkey-is a snack of glutinous rice balls rolled with bean paste. Millet Mush, or Mian Cha as known in Chinese, is a kind of porridge made with sesame and peanut butter. Wan Dou Huang is a serving of small bean cakes that is always popular with those sweet tooth.

Prices are reasonable; an average of 50-60 dollars should be enough to cover the fare of the shows, tea and a couple of snacks. The tea house is open from 14:00 to 22:00.

The Lao She Tea House's location in central Beijing is very convenient, so stop buy, check out their authentic China tea sets, and enjoy some Chinese tea!

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Several hundreds of years ago, Chinese tea sets were introduced to Europe and people there loved them. It seemed they just couldn't get enough. And who could blame them? The thin, paper-like items and beautiful Chinese colors were something that most people had never even dreamed of before. But there were very few around who could afford them.

And then a new kind of porcelain was made in the 18th century that sent everyone wild. Merchants immediately set off for Jingdezhen, China's porcelain capital, to see if they could get their hands on some truly great items.

What was the invention? Famille rose porcelain, which was celebrated for its colorful motifs.

When compared to earlier porcelain, Famille Rose was remarkable for how many colors it incorporated. Making such vibrant colors required much more sophisticated techniques. Painters applied their skills to these tea sets, and potters had to come up with new ways of firing the porcelain so as not to damage the delicate color pigments. The result was truly remarkable.

This caused some emperors to send their best painters down the Jingdezhen to create some truly remarkable Famille rose porcelain items.

Today, few Europeans know that Europe made its own contributions to the irresistible Famille Rose porcelain.

Obviously the new colors used in the famille rose china tea sets had to come from somewhere, but where? Historians say enamels were brought into China by European Jesuit missionaries.

Also, pigments for the colorful Famille Rose porcelain was something China needed to ship from Europe. It wasnt until much later that China learned the techniques to make them.

Famille Rose is still exported from China and across the word to this day. Sometimes, auctions are help selling antique Famille Rose china tea sets. These sets can fetch millions of dollars, as a very specialized set of collectors and Chinese tea set lovers has emerged.

Author D. Cheng has written about Chinese culture, calligraphy, and arts & crafts such as Jingdezhen china tea sets for ages. From time to time, he endorses skilled Chinese craftsmen. See samples of quality Chinese tea sets.

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China is famous for its tea and tea sets, especially unique Yixing purple clay teapots. Some Chinese tea lovers see collecting purple clay teapots as a great pleasure. Mr. Liu Tianbao has evolved from an amateur teapot buyer to a master purple clay teapot collector.

The Costly Lesson

As a child, Liu was greatly influenced by his father's love of purple clay flowerpots. He was crazy about miniature gardens, so there were a lot of flower pots made of Yixing purple clay in their home. Liu learned the special qualities of purple clay from his father.

Over 30 years ago, there were several curio markets in China's capitol city. Following his father's footsteps, Liu started to shop around at places where various folk arts and crafts were sold, looking for valuable purple play.

One day, Liu hit a second-hand curio market. He purchased nearly 50 secondhand Yixing purple clay teapots! Then he hurried home excitedly, and dipped all the treasures into a tank. He was petrified by what he saw. The handles and spouts dropped one by one off the teapots. It turns out he bought many worthless, broken teapots pieced together by glue. He was taught a costly lesson.

An (Almost) Lost Love

Liu strove to never be duped again. In 1986, he took a shine to a teapot at an antique market in Tianjin. He wanted it for his own collection, but as the price was too high, he gave up. Ten years later, however, he met the teapot again by chance at an antique market in Beijing. There and then he bought it without hesitation.

According to his judgment, this pot was crafted several hundred years ago by a famous purple clay teapot maker named Pei Shimin. It featured a coat of yellow glaze on its surface. Finishing this pot called for two firings, and the technique was very hard to master. Today, a teapot like this can only be admired at the Palace Museum in Beijing.

Save a Pot or Save a Hip?

Since he comprehends their inherent value, Liu cherishes his purple clay teapots to the extreme. On one occasion, he got an antique purple clay teapot from a friend. He gingerly put it into his shoulder bag, and rode his bicycle home, singing songs happily.

When halfway there, however, a grey-haired man suddenly slipped in front of Liu's bike. In order to avoid the old man, Liu swerved his bike and fell off right away. In a fraction of a second, he held on to the purple clay teapot with both hands, and his hipbone fell onto the ground heavily. The teapot was intact, but Liu was stuck in bed for 12 months due to a hip fracture. Nowadays, his friends still take delight in talking about Liu's great sacrifice to the purple clay teapot.

Now Liu has been collecting purple clay teapots for over thirty years. He describes each of his unique teapots as his son. His collections prove that he has a sharp eye for purple clay teapots.

Liu thinks an Yixing purple clay teapot inevitably involves its creator's ingenuity, workmanship, and vision. And he says a purple clay teapot embodies its collector's ability to find good things, and a little luck.

Posted under Tea