In photos: Guanyin Pavilion, China's oldest tea house, Chengdu

Owner of Guanyin Pavilion Teahouse in Pengzhen in Chengdu, Sichuan province, throwing boiling water in an arc over kettles.

Looking to escape the buzz of China’s modern cities? A taxi ride from Chengdu is Pengzhen town, with a charming 300 year old tea house and a local community happily preserving their ancient way of life.

Pengzhen old town is freezing. And when I say freezing, I mean so cold that my eyeballs feel like small icicles rolling around in my head. The town is blanketed in a low-hanging thick grey mist, which makes me immediately think of the horror movie The Mist and does nothing to ease my discomfort.

As we search around for the Guanyin Pavilion, my fingers start to go numb. I thought that a famous old Chinese tea house would be easy to find, but after 15 minutes, it becomes clear that we have no idea where it is. Maybe we are too early? It’s only 06:45am after all. Perhaps it’s not even open yet? Are we in the wrong place? And finally, why are we risking frost-bite just to watch some people drink tea?

Two porcelain blue and white tea cups on a wooden table in the sunlight Guanyin Pavilion in Pengzhen, Chengdu

Despite the temperatures, winter is an epic time to visit China. Check out our guide to exploring China in winter.

We ask some passersby and immediately discover that we are simply in the wrong place. (Damn you Google Maps - you have failed us once again in China!) The men gesture down a narrow street and after thanking them profusely, we follow their directions and finally find the teahouse.

Title page: A photo essay China’s oldest teahouse, Guanyin Pavilion in Pengzhen town, Chengdu

Chairman Mao customers inside Guanyin Pavilion .jpeg

The sun is only just peeking above the horizon and yet Guanyin Pavilion is already packed to the gills with elderly Chinese men, most of whom apparently arrived at 4:00am. We later discover that some people even walked over 10km to get here! Immediately we realise that we have a) arrived extremely late in comparison and b) clearly lack the dedication of the Chinese when it comes to drinking tea, despite the fact that we are both British.

Black metal kettle balanced on top of five silver kettles that have been scorched by the stove at Guanyin Pavilion, Chengdu

An elderly Chinese man seated in a bamboo chair drinks a steaming cup of jasmine tea at Guanyin Pavilion teahouse

The town of Pengzhen, located almost one hour outside of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, is home to what is said to be China’s oldest teahouse. Reportedly around 300 years old, the Guanyin Pavilion sits in the centre of a few narrow and historic streets where everyday life carries on unchanged from hundreds of years ago.

Elderly men wearing hats and coats sit outside in bamboo chairs drinking tea at Guanyin Pavilion in Pengzhen, Chengdu.

Elderly men and women sitting in bamboo chairs drinking tea inside Guanyin Pavilion in Pengzhen old town.

The teahouse also doubles as a community centre of sorts and is the beating heart of this tiny local population. The faithful customers, mostly elderly and retired men who are wrapped up warmly against the cold in flat caps and overcoats, frequent Guanyin Pavilion everyday without fail.

Three elderly men sit at a table drinking tea surrounded by Communist era posters. One depicts Mao Zedong waving.

An elderly man sitting in a bamboo chair looks at the camera through a cloud of smoke. Behind him a group of men are talking.

Watching over these dedicated patrons is the benevolent smiling face of Chairman Mao Zedong surrounded by solar rays - one of the many crumbling and faded Communist era paintings of China’s founder that decorate the wooden walls of the teahouse. Under his observant eye and in the dim glow of the bare lightbulbs dangling from the wooden beams above, some of the men play cards, smoke pipes or simply stare into the middle distance as if contemplating their long lost youth.

A painting of Mao Zedong surrounded by red and white solar rays.

Four men dressed in warm overcoats play a game of cards on a wooden table at Guanyin Pavilion in Pengzhen old town.

Close up of a man’s hands holding playing cards out in fan, with a cup of tea in the background.

Three men dressed in warm overcoats and sitting in bamboo chairs play a game of cards and drink tea at Guanyin Pavilion.

Playing cards on a wooden table in Guanyin Pavilion teahouse in Pengzhen old town.

Others fall asleep in their bamboo chairs or chat animatedly as a Chinese soap opera plays in the background on a flat-screen television - the only real sign of the modern world in this place, aside from the bright red headphones and a backwards baseball cap worn by Li Quiang, the manager of Guanyin Pavilion.

The owner of Guanyin Pavilion, wearing a blue apron, red headphones and a backwards baseball cap, pours tea for a customer.

Two red and white communist propaganda paintings. The painting on the right hand side depicts Mao Zedong waving.

Red and white communist-era propaganda paintings showing Chinese soldiers.

A man seated in a bamboo chair smoking a tobacco pipe.

Whilst somewhat shielded by the elements, the stone floor of the building is freezing and as the chill steadily seeps up through my feet, my teeth begin to chatter. I am turning into a human ice sculpture. A kindly lady pulls us aside and offers us a steaming hot flask of jasmine green tea, which we gratefully accept. We sink into two bamboo chairs and wrap our hands around the blue and white porcelain cups, taking a moment to just relax, warm up and people watch.

Check out everything we learned after two months travelling around China.

A woman in a red apron pours boiling water into porcelain teacups at Guanyin Pavilion teahouse.

Li Quiang, owner of Guanyin Pavilion, pours boiling water into a customer’s thermos flask

A cup of tea at Guanyin costs 2 yuan (a whopping 23p) whilst a whole flask is only 10 yuan (just over £1). In a country where people drink 2.1 million tonnes of tea a year and a Starbucks opens up a new store every 15 hours (sad times), dirt-cheap prices like this are becoming extremely rare.

Two blue and white Chinese porcelain teacups on a wooden table in a shaft of sunlight with a bamboo chair in the background.

The tea at Guanyin tastes sweet, light and refreshing and not overpoweringly floral (basically nothing even resembling a jasmine tea bag). The unique taste is attributed to a number of things, from the blend of flowers and tea leaves that are grown below the Tibetan plateau, on the foothills of the Himalayas, to the water that comes from a well, deep inside the tea house. All I can say is, it is a damn good brew.

I take a long sip from my cup and look around. Although off the traditional tourist trail, Guanyin Pavilion has recently become a magnet for amateur Chinese photographers. Many of them appear to be as interested in capturing images of us as they are of the teahouse itself! One of them has a camera with a humongous lens and as he gestures for me to pose, a dazzling flash goes off in the gloomy surroundings. All this moving around keeps me warm so I find that I don’t really mind being directed into cheesy poses. Although if I’d known, I would have dressed up.

Five men play a game of cards around a table while drinking tea outside Guanyin Pavilion.

A man smokes a pipe whilst other men look on at Guanyin Pavilion.

Silhouettes of men seated outside Guanyin Pavilion teahouse in Pengzhen old town.

Close up of porcelain tea cups on a concrete surface and a woven basket with metal kettles in the background.

We chat to these shutterbugs and discover that they are from all over China. One of the men calls his daughter and asks me to speak to her. She explains that her dad wants a photograph with me. Would this be alright? “Sure”, I say and obligingly pose for several selfies. This must be what it’s like to be a celebrity (albeit a tired and badly dressed one).

A worker at Guanyin Pavilion adjusts the kettles on the stove.

Title page: In photos, China’s oldest teahouse, Guanyin Pavilion in Pengzhen town, Chengdu

Tea in China isn’t just a national obsession (which you can see in the thermos flasks of hot tea that people carry with them everywhere) it is also an art. Tea tasting is a hugely popular activity and there are many small shops dedicated to the art of making tea. Customers often sit down with tea sellers for an hour or more and taste different teas and infusions before deciding which ones they wish to purchase.

**A traditional tobacco pipe maker at Guanyin Pavilion teahouse.**

Close up of wooden pipes and the pipe maker’s hands as he shapes a tobacco pipe using a tool.

A traditional pipe maker carving a piece of wood into a tobacco pipe.

In the simple Guanyin Pavilion, the complex art of tea drinking is left to one side. Instead, we are treated to an amazing display in the dramatic art of pouring (or almost throwing) boiling water. Different employees have various tricks they can perform, but the most incredible display today is by Li Quiang. Steam and water droplets explode upwards in an arc and astonishingly everyone (including him) is left unharmed.

Li Quiang, the owner of Guanyin Pavilion, pouring boiling water into the kettle and surrounded by clouds of steam.

The owner of the teahouse pouring boiling water into a kettle.

Clouds of steam and droplets of water surround Li Quiang as he throws boiling water all over the kettles at the teahouse.

Water and clouds of steam surround Li Quiang as he throws boiling water all over the kettles at the teahouse.

As the weather warms up outside, more patrons gather. Food is being prepared, possibly for lunch, and we look at each other and realise that we are suddenly ferociously hungry. Standing around in the cold will do that to you.

Cuts of meat hanging from a wire, bags of fruit and vegetables, and a pet dog and kittens in the food preparation area of the teahouse.

Outside, the street has come alive. Restaurants and shops are opening and the delicious aromas emanating from the steaming and bubbling pots and pans stirs our appetites further.

A woman cooking food surrounded by steaming metal pans at Heavenly Table Restaurant in Pengzhen old town.

A man cooking noodles while another customer is eating in a restaurant in Pengzhen old town.

We follow our noses and sit down at a restaurant where the owner says he can vegetarianise a traditional breakfast noodle dish for us. Piping hot noodles, chopped scallions and tofu all steeped in an oily chilli-infused broth promptly arrives and we slurp it down thankfully, feeling the warmth radiate outwards from our bellies to our frozen hands and feet.

A man pours noodles from a large metal wok into a bowl in a restaurant in Pengzhen old town.

Bowl of hot noodles with tofu, scallions and chilli oil.

Once sated, we decide to explore the few small streets that make up Pengzhen ancient neighbourhood. The town predominantly consists of one-storey wooden homes and shophouses, where time-worn trades still survive.

A man watches food cooking at his restaurant in Pengzhen old town.

A man checks a steaming metal pot containing bau (steamed buns) at his restaurant in Pengzhen old town.

We pass a shop that makes and sells noodles and another that seems to specialise in fixing watches and other electronic items.

A street in Pengzhen old town with one storey shops that have wooden fronts.

A woman who sells handmade noodles talks to a customer at the entrance to her shop.

A shop owner of a wooden front store in Pengzhen old town looks at an item that a customer has brought for him to fix.

A handmade noodle seller weights out noodles on a scale at her shop in Pengzhen old town.

The great thing about Pengzhen old town is that it is actually old. Most ‘old towns’ in China have been knocked down and rebuilt so that they look old - part of the common Disneyfication of historic towns in China that usually comes with a high entrance fee for tourists. But in Pengzhen, what you see is the real deal.

A motorbike and velvet covered chair sit in front of a wood panelled shop front in Pengzhen old town.

Sausages hang from a hanger off a roof in Pengzhen old town.

Local people walk down the narrow streets of Pengzhen old town.

Lunchtime is fast approaching and a queue of customers wait patiently to serve themselves rice from a bamboo steamer at The Heavenly Table restaurant - formerly a communist-run canteen that used to serve free food to workers.

Customers queue up to serve themselves rice from a bamboo steamer at Heavenly Table restaurant in Pengzhen old town.

A man wearing a flat cap and jacket eating lunch at Heavenly Table restaurant.

The owner of Heavenly Table restaurant spoons a meat broth into a bowl while his wife serves a customer rice.

Our wanderings take us further into the town and we stumble across a shop belonging to the octogenarian local doctor, who practices traditional Chinese medicine.

The local Chinese traditional medicine doctor sits outside his garage/surgery in Pengzhen old town.

Dried herbs, flowers and other plants hang from the walls and the ceiling alongside preserved body parts of various animals. Nearby, two old water bottles contain a remedy of pickled snakes. At this point, I begin to lament my lack of Mandarin as I would love to know what ailments this concoction cures. Maybe there is something for terrible circulation and icy cold hands?

Two bottles containing various snakes preserved in a reddish-brown liquid at the traditional medicine doctor’s surgery.

Close up of various snakes in a reddish brown liquid at a traditional Chinese medicine shop.

Dried herbs and orange peels in the traditional Chinese medicine doctor’s surgery in ancient Pengzhen town.

Dried medicinal roots hanging from the ceiling of the Chinese traditional medicine surgery in Pengzhen town.

We end our stroll near another teahouse, which has a dog carcass hanging outside.

The consumption of dog meat in China is not as common as everyone seems to think. An estimated 10 million dogs are killed each year for China’s dog meat trade, however the meat is only eaten infrequently by less than 20% of the population. A survey conducted in 2016 found that nearly 70% of the population had never consumed dog meat whilst more than half of the respondents (51.7%) believe the trade should be completely banned.
Some cities in China such as Shenzhen and Zhuhai, have now completely banned the consumption and production of dog meat. As of April 2020, Chinese authorities have declared that dogs should be treated as pets and not livestock.

Dog carcass hanging outside a traditional tea house in Pengzhen ancient town in Sichuan province.

We decide to walk back to the Guanyin Pavilion and take one more look around before leaving Pengzhen. On the way back we pass the local barber, busy at work.

The local barber cutting a customer’s hair in his barbershop located just outside of Guanyin Pavilion teahouse in Pengzhen old town.

It is midday now and to our surprise the teahouse has mostly emptied out, save for a few customers now sitting in the sun outside. The army of photographers has gone. Shafts of sunlight stream through the roof and for the first time I can just about see the murals and decorations that are a reminder of the previous incarnation of this building as a temple during the Ming dynasty, before it was converted over a century ago.

Sunlight streams through the open roof of Guanyin Pavilion onto bamboo chairs that are now empty.

A red thermos flask of tea and six porcelain cups sit on a table in a private room at the teahouse.

The sunlight feels pleasantly warm after the freezing start to the day and we take a moment to just sit down and absorb the quiet atmosphere.

Close up of a black kettle balanced on top of several silver kettles that are all used to boil water.

Visiting Pengzhen is like travelling back in time. Instead of the flashy skyscrapers and buzzing, crowded cities so synonymous with China’s rapid modernisation, we caught glimpses of the lives of ordinary people: a community staunchly preserving its heritage and the old traditions of China that are swiftly being consigned to history.

How to get to Pengzhen and Guanyin Pavilion Tea House

The best way to get to Pengzhen is by taxi - we took a Didi (the Chinese version of Uber) from Chengdu which cost 88 yuan (£10) one way and took us 50 minutes. It is best to get to the teahouse early in the morning as this is when it is at its busiest.

A teahouse employee pours boiling water into a customer’s teacup.

Communist paintings featuring Mao Zedong on the wall behind three men drinking tea at the teahouse.

If you are going to visit to take photographs, please remember to be respectful. Ask people’s permission before photographing them and make sure that you buy a cup or flask of tea when you go there. The tea is very tasty and really isn’t expensive, plus you end up supporting the business as well. A win-win for everyone!

The real beauty of this place is just sitting and people watching. We also managed to talk to people via our translation app (a little clunky, but still some conversation is better than nada) so if you speak Mandarin, this is the time to use it!

End Pinterest page: A photo essay China’s oldest teahouse, Guanyin Pavilion in Pengzhen town, Sichuan province

Our trip to this tea house was one of our best experiences in China. Where’s the most atmospheric place that you’ve had a brew? Drop us a line in the comments!
Looking for more travel inspiration? Click here to discover more of our favourite places around the world.

If you liked this post, Pin it!