Three-Course Tea Experience
The highest form of Bai hospitality: the first course of bitter tea is brewed from roasted tea leaves, symbolizing that one must endure hardship before achieving success
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- Scheduled sessions
- Ticket
- approx. CNY 60-100
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
The highest form of Bai hospitality: the first course, bitter tea, is brewed from roasted tea leaves, symbolizing hardship before success; the second course, sweet tea, is flavored with brown sugar, rushan (milk fan) and walnuts, symbolizing sweetness after bitterness; the third course, aftertaste tea, blends honey, Sichuan pepper, ginger and cinnamon, symbolizing savoring life. 'First bitter, second sweet, third aftertaste' is seen as life philosophy expressed through tea; performances feature the bawangbian whip dance and antiphonal songs between Bai 'Jinhua' maidens and 'Apeng' lads. The Bai Three-Course Tea is inscribed on the national intangible cultural heritage list, with fixed performance venues in both the Ancient Town and Xizhou.
Getting there: Ancient Town / Xizhou
Photos
More in Dali
- Dali Old Town
Ancient capital of both the Nanzhao Kingdom and the Dali Kingdom; the present square walled city was built in the 15th year of the Ming Hongwu era (1382) after Mu Ying and Lan Yu pacified Yunnan, with all four gate towers still standing; the layout of "a stream around Cangshan, Cangshan embracing the old town" endures to this day
- Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple
The surviving core of Chongsheng Temple, the royal monastery of the Dali Kingdom; the main Qianxun Pagoda was built during the reign of Quanfengyou of Nanzhao — a typical Tang-dynasty dense-eaved, hollow brick pagoda 69.13 m tall — with two smaller pagodas added in the Song dynasty on either side
- Cangshan Mountain (Diancangshan)
Nineteen peaks lining the west side of the Dali basin, with the main peak Malong at 4,122 m; every peak keeps snow and every stream flows into Erhai Lake; "Cangshan Snow" heads the four famous scenes of "wind, flowers, snow and moon", and the area is now a UNESCO Global Geopark
- Erhai Lake
Yunnan's second-largest plateau freshwater lake, named for its ear-like shape; the lake covers about 250 sq km, and "Erhai Moon" is one of the four famous scenes of "wind, flowers, snow and moon"
- Xizhou Ancient Town
The largest Bai ethnic market town on the west shore of Erhai Lake, famed since the Ming and Qing dynasties for the 'Xizhou merchant guild'; in the Republican era the four great families—Yan, Dong, Yin and Yang—ran tuocha tea and import-export trade reaching as far as Southeast Asia
- Shuanglang Ancient Town
A fishing village on the east shore of Erhai Lake, famed as the 'top town for Cangshan and lake views' and grown into an art enclave around the lake: dancer Yang Liping's Sun Palace and painter Zhao Qing's Qinglu 'Moon Palace' stand by the water, making it the birthplace of Erhai guesthouse aesthetics