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Guangdong people are famous for their passion for Yum Cha（飲茶）, a Cantonese term which literally means "drinking tea."
And the tradition of drinking morning tea is the most distinct characteristic of Guangdong's tea culture, and also an important part of daily life for many locals.
Du Lijun takes you to a Guangdong tea restaurant to taste the authentic Yum Cha morning tea.
It's seven o'clock in the morning. In the subway station in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, commuters are on their way to work or school. Some are carrying their breakfast because they have no time to eat at home.
But Tao Tao Ju（陶陶居） Restaurant in downtown Guangzhou is full of grey-haired elderly people who are leisurely enjoying their breakfast. They are sitting around tables, chatting, drinking tea or reading a newspaper. Some people will stay here for three to four hours.
The time-honored Tao Tao Ju restaurant is a four-story building that's usually filled with customers every morning. Sharing a table with strangers is common for those who arrive late.
A waitress at Tao Tao Ju says the restaurant starts serving morning tea at 6:45 a.m.
"Some people come here at 5:30. They wait outside."
80-year-old Chen Changdi is a Guangzhou native. She comes to Tao Tao Ju to have morning tea almost everyday after her morning exercises.
"I come here at ten past six. Having morning tea makes me happy. It also helps clean my stomach."
Sitting beside Chen Changdi is her daughter Guan Yanji.
"She comes here every day. But I can't accompany her every morning because of my busy work schedule. If I can't come here, my sisters will come with her."
Guangdong morning tea can be traced back to more than 150 years ago. There was a type of simple teashop, offering tea and snacks for those seeking refreshment.
Later on, with the boom of commerce in Guangdong, more and more businessmen needed a place for social activities. Teahouses soon began to emerge and developed gradually into tea restaurants.
Since then, morning tea has become a common Cantonese practice.
60-year-old Guangzhou native surnamed Cao is also a regular customer at Tao Tao Ju Restaurant. Like many other customers, he usually orders one pot of tea and two portions of dim sum every morning.
"Having morning tea is my habit. It is a must in my daily life. I started to have morning tea when I was a teenager. I have maintained the habit for several decades."
Actually morning tea refers to dim sum accompanied by tea. So having morning tea is also called "eating morning tea" in Guangdong.
Dim sum(點(diǎn)心) is a Cantonese term referring to small Chinese dishes. Classical Guangdong dim sums include buns, dumplings and rice rolls in a variety of ingredients such as beef, chicken, pork, shrimp or vegetable. They are cooked by steaming, frying or boiling. In Guangdong, dim sums are usually small and served as 3 or 4 pieces in one portion. Each portion is served in a small steamer basket or plate which is about the same size as the palm of an adult.
Customers can choose whatever dim sums they like, but there are rules in drinking the accompanied tea.
Cao says it is customary to pour tea for others first. He says a custom unique to the Cantonese is to thank the person pouring the tea by tapping the bent index and middle fingers together on the table.
"It's a polite gesture which symbolizes 'bowing' to the person who is pouring your tea. Also, you can not fill up the cup. 80 percent is enough. Because there is an old saying that goes, "it is impolite to fill one's cup with tea while it's respectful to fill one's cup with wine."
Cao says many regular customers prefer sitting in the same place every morning. He always sits at a round table that can seat 10 people, and the waitresses will keep the same seat for him everyday.
"I know most of the waiters and waitresses here because I come here everyday. If the seat is vacant, the cup on the table is upside down. But the waitress will turn the mouth of the cup up for me before I arrive, which means the seat is occupied. I have been using the same seat for about six to seven years. I have seen many waiters and waitresses come and go."
As many other Guangdong people who take drinking morning tea as a kind of social activity to enhance friendship or talk about business, Cao also make friends with those who share the same table with him every day.
"If one of them has been absent for several days, I will worry about them, wondering if he or she is sick. Some old people who used to sit at the table have passed away."
He says as a carpenter, he often talks with his business partners while drinking morning tea.
"If someone needs a carpenter to do woodwork or I need some assistants to help me, we will meet here to talk about the details."
Cao enjoys his morning tea everyday, which for him, has not only become a habit, but also an life style that he has accustomed with.
And this lifestyle, in his eyes, is loosing its popularity among the young people in Guangdong.
"The young people's lifestyle is different from ours. They like hamburgers, beer and fruit juice. Also, they don't like getting up early. My children always say, "Hey dad, you are out. But I don't care. I just want to do what I like."
Actually many young people still enjoy the leisure time of dringking tea and eating dim sums, they are just too busy to enjoy them during the morning. So many restaurants in Guangdong also began to serve afternoon and night tea, which attracts numerous young customers everyday.
28-year-old Sun is one of them.
"I often come here at night. My friend has come to Guangzhou for a tour. So today I will treat her with morning tea. But I usually come here with my husband and son at 10 p.m. to have night tea. We are not used to going to bed early."
As time goes by, people's habits of Yum Cha is changing. Teahouses and restaurants are working to adapt to the new competitive environment. These changes may offer a glimpse into the lives of the people of Guangdong.
