Preface

Exploring Rural Tea Culture Through the Viewpoint of Youth

To encourage students to participate in the activities of the Tea Culture House and to promote interaction with the community, the Tea Culture House of the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau and the Macao Association for Historical Education has co-organised a Training Programme for Student Museum Researchers from August 2006 to July 2007.

This programme is a large-scale rural history and cultural education activity. From some nearly 300 applications from university and high school students, 40 applicants have been chosen to participate in a series of theoretical and practical courses; those who pass the prescribed courses will be awarded the title of Student Museum Researcher. According to the agreement between the Tea Culture House of the Civic Municipal Affairs Bureau and the Macao Association for Historical Education, the 40 selected students have been divided into more than 10 groups. Over the last four months, these groups have employed a variety of community research resources such as libraries, archives, museums and the Tea Culture House itself, to further knowledge about ‘Macao and Tea’.

From ancient times, the Chinese have had a saying that ‘thousands of people can be taught by rural culture’, from which it is apparent that rural culture is the traditional foundation of Chinese education. A leaf, a tree, a person or a thing in the countryside can all touch the heart. This is natural, and it is the main reason why rural culture has served as a basis for Chinese education. As a melting pot of Eastern and Western cultures, Macao provides a unique historic and cultural heritage that imbues the city with distinguishing features that cannot be found in other parts of China.

Macao has a deep kinship with ‘tea’ since it was once an important export port for the tea trade. While time rolls on relentlessly, affection is evergreen. What has survived in this small town are the sentiments of the older generation and a number of tea-related items from the past such as teahouses, tea shops, tea clubs, tearooms, tea booths, tea dealers, tea lovers and tea conventions. All of these provide a very appropriate basis for the historical and cultural education of teenagers in Macao.

The following items of tea culture from the past could reasonably have been expected to vanish in the rapid modernisation of Macao but due to the effort of these 40 students some fading mements have been preserved by their pens, their eyes and their hearts. Following their sorting of documentary records and interviews over the past four months, some objectives have clearly been achieved. With the special sincerity of Macao teenagers, these students have uncovered a ‘tea memory’ long mislaid.

Let us explore the bygone tea culture of Macao in a meaningful way and discover the ‘rural sentiment for tea’!

Tea Houses

Luk Kwok Tea House

The three-storey Luk Kwok Tea House was originally established in 1913 and was located at the intersection of Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro and Rua de Cinco de Octubro, from which one entered. Each succeeding floor was larger in area than the one beneath it. The external walls of the building were painted green, while the Chinese gable roof and square windows with Western carvings and balcony point to a unique architectural sense blending East and West.

There are no windows on the ground floor. The hall, with ceiling fans, had tables and chairs in the centre, with seat booths on the two sides of the hall. On the next floor, all the seats were designed as booth seats, while a display panel of Luk Kwok Restaurant was suspended opposite the entrance. On the top floor there were several tables, with ceiling fans and mirrors on the walls. There were also woodcarvings besides the pillars for decoration, and all these made for a splendid impression.

Luk Kwok Tea House - formerly Tak Sum Tea House - was officially opened for operation in 1938, and was one of the most famous traditional Cantonese teahouses in Macao. Luk Kwok Tea House was located quite close to the Inner Harbour, and most of its customers were neighbours, nearby workers or ship passengers. A number of former Macao governors were also attracted by its reputation. When the Inner Harbour was prospering, many ship passengers visited Luk Kwok Tea House for a short rest instead of going to inns and hotels.

When the Outer Harbour commenced operations, however, the number of passengers going to Luk Kwok sharply decreased. The teahouse finally closed its doors in 1990. The inner part of the building had collapsed, as it had not been restored and weeds had taken root; the once bustling Luk Kwok Tea House can now only stand silently in a corner of the city, observing, perhaps woefully, the radical changes taking place in Macao.

In the old tea customers’ minds, Luk Kwok was the source of innumerable dim sums and delicacies, and its tea was so good that people still delight in talking about it. Luk Kwok’s tea was famous for its fragrance and its sweet taste. Most of the tealeaves came from the Ieng Kei teashops in Hong Kong and Macao; the sweet taste in the tea came from the water used, refreshing spring water from Long Tou Mountain next to the entrance of Flora Garden.

Tasting tea and chatting with friends in the Luk Kwok Tea house still lives vividly in the memory of tea lovers from the older generation.

Koon Nam Tea House

Koon Nam Tea House, located at 126 Rua de Cinco de Octubro, was established in 1953. Its predecessor was Kam Long Tea Salon, whose sole proprietor was Mr. Lio Bak. Sustaining large losses, Liao had the creditor’s rights of the teahouse transferred, and Mr. Lei In Sek took over the business. Koon Nam Tea House was operated by two groups from Hong Kong - ‘Koon Hoi’ and ‘Tak Nam’ – and these gave rise to the name Koon Nam Tea House.

The Koon Nam Tea House operated for more than two generations but closed down in 1996 due to the sharp increase in the price of local real estate. Saddened by the closure, Mr. Chan Weng Lam hired more than 30 of the original employees of the teahouse and opened a restaurant called Koon Nam Him, which is now located on Avenida do Almirante Lacerda.

The architecture of Kun Lam Tea House is quite similar to that of the nearby Dai Long Fong Tea House. The teahouse is four storeys high, with the lower three storeys used for business while the top floor serves as the employees’ dormatory and workshop. The operator is particular about the appliances used in Koon Nam: there is a red-clay stove on a low stool for each table, and on the stove stands a brass pot, in addition to a spittoon beside each seat. Before the teahouse opened each day, the staff would boil water by using a big boiler, while putting the steamers on it to cook the dim sum within. Once the water and dim sum were ready, the staff would serve them to the customers.

The most common types of teas at that time included Oolong, Shoumei and Puer, while dim sum and barbequed pork figured strongly in the most popular dishes offered. Koon Nam’s specially made salted eggs, steamed chicken buns, fish dumplings and beef were also very much in demand. In the early years of Koon Nam Tea House even traditional pastry served as an income sideline. Festivals and major occasions meant that diverse baked products full of traditional richness – Moon Cakes for the Mid-Autumn Festival, Chinese New Year puddings and Dragon and Phoenix cakes for Chinese weddings – would be prepared.

Lung Wa Tea House

Lung Wa Tea House, a three-storey Cantonese teahouse located near the Red Market on Avenida do Almirante Lacerda was established in 1963. When Mr. Ho Fong moved from Hong Kong to Macao he discovered that there was no Cantonese teahouse in the northern district of Macao, and so he founded the Lung Wa Tea House. Its mode of operation was quite similar to the Lin Heung Tea House in Hong Kong. Today, the teahouse is managed by Ho Ming Dak, the son of Ho Fong.

Stepping into the entrance of Lung Wa Tea House, customers must walk upstairs to the second floor, which is the main area of the teahouse where customers consume tea and meals. On the two sides of the steep stairs, photographs are displayed. The third floor of the teahouse serves as its kitchen. On the yellow exterior wall of the building, the four large characters ‘Lung Wa Cha Lau’ - ‘Cha Lau’ means teahouse in Cantonese - have been painted in red. Classic Chinese ceiling fans are in operation on the second floor, and beside the windows with green frames there are a row of booth seats. There was originally a spittoon next to each seat but for reasons of hygiene these have been removed. A balcony is situated next to the booth seats, and on the balcony sit several small potted ornamentals to evoke a sense of leisure and relaxation.

Lung Wa Tea House is quite different from other teahouses: a dim sum trolley is stationed beside the stairs and customers have to go to the cart to choose what they want before returning to their seats. Popular dim sum dishes such as Siu Mai (steamed dumplings with pork and shrimp) are on offer but the shop’s unique selling point is its traditional method of cooking. However, these days Lung Wa does not serve shrimp dumplings because the chef who made them has retired and his technique for making them has not been handed down. In the past, the teahouse opened from 5:00am to 4:00pm In keeping with the times, however, the teahouse now opens its doors at 7:00am and closes at 2:00pm. Most of the people who patronise the teashop are not strangers but old customers who have visited the shop for decades. Some who have moved overseas will visit during their annual trips. Families also visit when they have time. In the early days of the teahouse, Lung Wa also produced Moon Cakes and Chinese Wedding Cakes, and customers could also hold feasts there.

Lung Wa Tea House is one of the traditional teahouses that has survived in Macao, and today it has even become a platform for cultural exchange. The owner of the teahouse has instilled cultural elements into the operation. Exhibitions on different themes are held from time to time, with artists’ paintings and photographs covering the walls. As a result, Lung Wa Tea House has become a model for the cultural industry in Macao.

Tea Shops

Ieng Kei Tea Shop

The three-storey Ieng Kei Tea Shop, located on Rua de Cinco de Octubro, was established in 1930. It is the only existing traditional teashop left in Macao. Having been established for more than three-quarters of a century, Ieng Kei sells only Chinese tea. It has managed to survive all upheavals while other teashops of the same era like Cheung Chen and Cheng Lan have closed down one after the other.

Ieng Kei’s predecessor is Bo Chun Tea Shop. After this closed, a group of five people thought that the location of the teashop would be good for businesses due to its large flow of people and prospering location. Raising $2,500 in capital between them, they were ready to start. As one of the investors had a cake shop called ‘Ieng Kei’ the teashop was named after it.

The major operator of the Ieng Kei Tea Shop now is Mr. Lo Cheung Hung, whose elder cousin Lo Tou is one of the original five ‘shareholders’ of the teashop. Fleeing the war in 1939, the 10-year-old Lo Cheung Hung came to Macao from Shunde to seek help from his cousin. At that time, many teashops in Macao also operated tobacco or pastry businesses. There were very few teashops that sold tealeaves only, and of these Ieng Kei was the largest.

At that time, it was popular to drink tea in Macao, and many people who liked to drink tea would go to buy tealeaves themselves. However, the major source of income of Ieng Kei Tea Shop was not from retail sales but from wholesale businesses with big teahouses and stores. Ieng Kei’s business was very good, with daily turnover reaching more than $100.

Nowadays, customers of Ieng Kei come mainly from old neighbourhoods. Quite a number of old customers who have grown up with Ieng Kei often come to the teashop. In addition, old customers who have moved overseas or to Hong Kong drop by to purchase tealeaves during their visits to Macao. In order to satisfy the needs of customers, Ieng Kei has diversified its product: in addition to selling tealeaves, the company sells teapots and tea appliances to customers. Both Mr. Lou and his daughter-in-law feel optimistic about the prospects for the teashop because they believe that with an increasing number of people drinking tea in Macao the old habits will reassert themselves and Ieng Kei’s business will correspondingly improve.

Ton Heng Tea Shop

Ton Heng Tea Shop is a very special new style of teashop in Macao. The intention of opening Ton Heng is not just to sell tea or earn money. The owner of Ton Heng, Mr. Cheang Shu Mao from Chaozhou, developed an affection for tea from his youth and hoped to open a teashop in his later years - with the tea shop he can ‘meet and make friends by tea’. In addition, by opening the teashop, he can help promote the culture of tea.

The new-styled Ton Heng Tea Shop significantly differs from the traditional Ieng Kei Tea Shop as Ton Heng emphasises the promotion of tea culture. As well as selling tealeaves, Tung Choi Fong has been established beside the teashop to retail healthy organic food. Tung Choi Fong also provides a platform for tea lovers to chat and exchange views.

Ton Heng was first established with only two staff members, Mr. Cheang and one of his relatives. Even now the teashop is still managed by them. Having operated for nearly six years, Ton Heng has established a stable business and attracted loyal clientele.

The success of Ton Heng is due not only to the reasonable price and excellent quality of its tealeaves but also to Mr. Cheang’s persistence and love of tea. He tries to ensure premium quality for all the types of tealeaves he sells, and never sells leaves he does not know well. On the day of the interview, Mr. Cheang confided that he wanted to stock Taiwan tealeaves in his shop. However, since he did not know much about the teas manufactured in Taiwan, he planned to go to Taiwan to study the teas there. This was not the first time Mr. Cheang had decided to travel to other regions to ‘investigate’. He often visits Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao to promote the industry and the culture of tea.

Herbal Teas

Herbal tea is widely acknowledged as folk medicine, and herbal teashops are a part of the lives of the people of Macao. Herbal teashops have developed from past indispensable recreation premises for the public into modern places of consumption. They have not been replaced by the march of time, they have merely adapted.

Due to the historically poor economy and insufficient medical services, the sick of Macao usually did not go to see a doctor but visited herbal teashops to consume one or two bowls of herbal tea or buy some herbs to decoct at home. Herbal tea became the only low-price medical service for the community of those days, with the cheapest available at one cent per bowl. In later years, the herbal teashop became a gathering place. The ‘Hsin Kei Herb Tea Shop’ next to the Qing Ping Theatre in the 1960s, for example, supplied radios, free newspapers and magazines for the benefit of its customers. Herbal teashops became a magnet for people of different ages and classes. When the economy started to recover in the late 1960s people aspired to Westernisation and modernisation. Traditional herbal teashops began to lose their cachet, with the 1980s witnessing the lowest ebb for the herbal tea industry. As the 1990s dawned, new-styled herbal teashops began to appear with products, packaging, shop facilities and promotional methods differing completely to traditional conventions.

Macao is a melting pot of Eastern and Western cultures. Maybe your intention in going to a herbal teashop is simply to enjoy a glass of herbal tea or chat with friends for a short while. However, what you have drunk is not simply a glass of herbal tea: it is not only a refreshing drink. When you are drinking it, you are actually tasting and appreciating the full gamut of Chinese culture.

Tai Sing Kung Herb Tea Shop

The Tai Sing Kung Herbal Tea Shop on Rua de Palha is the oldest reputable herbal teashop in Macao. Mr. Wu - whom people called ‘Tai Sing Kung’ (literally a loudspeaker) at that time - opened his first herbal teashop in the Qing Dynasty. The shop has a history of more than 200 years.

The first Tai Sing Kung Herbal Tea Shop was located at the intersection of San Kio Street and Rua de Barca and sold not only herbal teas but Chinese herbal medicine. The second herbal teashop, which mainly sold Chinese herbal medicine, was opened near Kiang Wu Hospital. The current teashop is the third Tai Sing Kung Herb Tea Shop on Rua de Palha. From selling ‘Wai Gan Cha’ and ‘sugar cane water’ to selling chrysanthemum tea and 24-flavour tea, everything is managed solely by the near-octogenarian Mr. Ng Kiang Fat, who has operated a herbal tea business for nearly half a century, and is the third generation of the Tai Sing Kung Herbal Tea Shop. For all these years he has managed to both serve the public and engage in charitable activities.

In early times, Chinese herbal medicine originated from the regions of Zhuhai, Sanzao, Hengqin and Quangzhou. When villagers were free, they would climb the hills to gather medicinal herbs, which would then be transported to Macao by cart or boat. Mr. Ng sometimes went to uplands like the Fortress Hill in Macao to gather herbs, and he also travelled to Zhongshan to buy herbs himself in order to ensure their quality. Before putting the herbs into a rattan basket, they are washed, sorted and packed. Mr. Ng has his own secrets in making herbal teas: first, the fresh herbs should be preserved for one year before using in order to rid the herbs of their ‘gamey’ odour; second, the herbs should be decocted for at least one day in order to imbue the herbal tea with enough ‘for hau’ (timing).

From purchasing herbal tea ingredients to making and selling herbal teas, Mr. Ng does everything himself. Today, the price of herbal ingredients are climbing, and the principal costs of the herbal tea business are also increasing. The price of herbal tea has risen since the 1970s - from 8 cents per bowl to 20 cents to 50 cents to 7 dollars and now 20 dollars. Such large increases have obviously put pressure on the business operations of herbal tea. Fortunately, the new-styled herbal teashops have not had an impact on Tai Sing Kung, although the sincerity of Mr. Ng has made an impact on the Macao community and local culture.

Fok Wa Kei Herb Tea Shop

The Fok Wa Kei Herb Tea Shop has been in operation for more then 50 years - two generations - and is now managed by Mr. Fok Kiang Chong.

To be more accurate, Fok Wa Kei is a long-standing mobile herbal tea vending stall. Since its establishment, the shop has had no stationary retail outlet. In its early years, founder Fok Wa merely carried the herbal teas to sell in different parts of Macao. Later, he used a trolley and went to places like Qing Ping Theatre, various mahjong premises and the canidrome to sell his herbal wares. Today, Mr. Fok Kiang Chong has stable business hours and an established route for his mobile stall, moving from San Kio to Rua de Entre-Campos at 4:00pm; from 5:00pm to 7:00pm the stall can be found at Rua da Erva. After that, it will pass by Cinema Alegria, and at 8:30pm the store will move to Avenida do Almirante Lacerda to operate until daybreak.

Fok Wa Kei’s Herbal Teas are always made on the day, and decocted by using a kerosene stove that can be easily controlled. To make herbal teas, the herbs should be put in the pot before adding water. When the water boils, the flame should be adjusted to slow the fire in order to enable the tea to boil for a longer time. The longer it is ‘cooked’ the more intense the flavour. There are five stoves available for making herbal teas, four of which are used for decocting four different kinds of herbal teas (24-flavour tea, five-flower tea, cold & flu tea and special efficacy tea) plus one for boiling water. Water is essential because during decocting the tea may dry up if there is not enough water. Hot water is therefore added when necessary.

Herb tea ingredients like Sam A Fu (Evoida Lepta) and Indigowoad Root could be found in Hac Sa in Coloane in the past. However, the stall nowadays buys Mainland herbal tea ingredients from a Chinese drugstore on Rua do Tarrafeiro. Herbal teas are actually low-price Chinese medicines. In the past, the price of a glass of herbal tea increased from 5 cents to 10 cents, and by 1960 each glass cost $3.5. The price did not change dramatically until 1997, when the price of oil rose sharply. The price of herb teas correspondingly increased to $4 per glass.