碩士 / 中國文化大學 / 史學研究所 / 91 / SUMMARY
The teahouse and tavern of Lau-Shanghai
When Chinese people have to meet and talk things over, they usually say, “ let’s find a “ place “ where we can discuss it while eating. Then, the “place “ becomes an important factor for discussion. In order to negotiate in good moods and have efficient discussion, the space of location is the catalyst in process of intercourse. In many situations, eating and drinking activities are not only eating and drinking but the means of human-intercourse activities. These means are symbolic actions, in other words, eating and drinking are not but human intercourse is the final purpose, such as entertainment, business transaction, gossip, mediation and flaunting oneself. It means that eating and drinking consumption can transform to a social language for the function of social and symbolic action between people.
Human intercourse takes place through substantial symbols on the basis of common living structure. Because Chinese people develop various social languages under the structure of eating and drinking consumption, the teahouse and tavern, two popular consumption places in Chinese ordinary life, become the mediums of intercourse between different social languages and have space function. This space function does not form suddenly but has cultural and social foundations. Teahouse and tavern are the public space providing eating and drinking. Since eating and drinking are symbolic actions with social language characteristics, then teahouse and tavern have space function to symbolic actions. In fact, teahouse and tavern are not the only places that have space function, anywhere people can gather for banquet has space function to the symbolic actions of consumption. And in modern Chinese social life, teahouse and tavern are so common and popular that they are utilized frequently as the places for symbolic actions of consumption.
In traditional Chinese society, teahouse and tavern, two main places for eating and drinking, where all kinds of people, good or bad, are mixed together, thus many people have negative impression about them. But from another point of view, they are highly open space. No matter who you are, what you do or where you are from, as long as you can afford, anyone can consume there. This kind of social phenomenon has existed for a very long time. In Hang Dynasty, there already had been public houses where people could drink and chat. In Tang Dynasty, drinking tea became a fashion throughout China, teahouse and tavern gradually became popular consumption places. In Song Dynasty, with the highly agricultural, economical and urban living standard advancement, eating and drinking consumption became more and more delicate and diversified. From this period of time, teahouse and tavern became main places where citizens consumed, along with numerous activities such as prostitute and street performances.
On the basis of industrial and commercial development in Song and Yuan Dynasties, economical system kept on expanding in Ming Dynasty, industry in China transformed from agriculture-centered to commerce-centered structure and influenced the entire social life and regional development. The most influenced part was living culture, especially the lower reaches of Yangtze River where a citizen’s culture with highly regional characteristics developed. Large numbers of immigrants flooding in the cities and towns had a great deal to do with forming of citizen’s culture in Jiangnan. In Ming and Chin Dynasties, many newly emerging businessmen became newly emerging citizens. Along with increase of population in towns and advancement of material life, the delicate teahouse and tavern culture in Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty extended to be part of ordinary townsfolk’s life.
In Ming and Chin Dynasties, towns in south of Yangtze River were the centers of commerce and handiwork industry. There were agencies, workshops, porters, clerks, shops, taverns and teahouses everywhere. Plenty amount of goods were gathered and distributed in Jiangnan and became the locations where businessmen from all directions gathered and were mixed up. During this period of time, eating and drinking consumption in this region commonly and highly developed. The prosperity of economy in towns was the main factor. Because of the shape-up of economical system in this region, local small towns were the epitomes of large cities. Those forms of consumption which were exclusive in big cities at first spread to towns and there appeared teahouses and taverns. With the widespread of commercial economy, people in Ming and Chin Dynasties put much more emphasis on material life than ever.
Along with the emerging of economy in towns in Jiangnan, places for consumption were utilized commonly. The need and dainty of eating and drinking made consumption industry more prosperous. Teahouse and tavern were public places where people rested, gathered, socialized, traded and became more refined. Especially the teahouses, and developed many functions relative to social activities. Teahouses in towns were not merely places for drinking tea and chatting but also had multi functions and were miniatures of town society, thus the amounts of teahouses were so large that other industries were incomparable. Jiangnan also became the region which teahouse and tavern prospered most in Ming and Chin Dynasties. In Shanghai, a town within the system of south of Yangtze River, there were also teahouses and taverns that were utilized as locations for various social activities.
When the Yellow River Valley was the center of Chinese culture, Shanghai was just a small town on the edge of mainstream culture. From Suei and Tang Dynasties, because of frequent traffic between China and foreign countries and relative stability
and commercial prosperity in Jiang-nan region the center of Chinese culture turned away from Yellow River valley to the Jiang-jeh region. After Song and Yuan Dynasties, Shanghai started to emerge in Chinese history. Even till the mid Chin Dynasty, Shanghai was still a local city. The turning point was Anglo-Sino War. In 1843, when China was defeated in Anglo-Sino War and signed Treaty of Nan-king, Shanghai became one of five treaty ports in China, and developed to be important port between north and south. In the late Chin Dynasty, there were constant civil wars in Chuna, but Shanghai Settlement had relative stable environment and many people fled to this city for making a living, especially for people in Jiang-jeh region, Shanghai was the precious place where they could turn the corner. Immigrants flooded in, and
this phenomenon accelerated the prosperity of Shanghai settlement.
“Lau-Shanghai” marked the era when China met Western, tradition met modern. It became adventurers’ paradise and the key to the world. Not only Chinese people but also many western people came here to realize their exotic dreams. Shanghai thus became a city of diversity, a capital of economy, entertainment, culture and immigrants. The so-called “Lau-Shanghai”in this thesis is the period of 100 years from the set-up of settlement in 1843 to the abolition of settlement system in 1943. Within this 100 years, foreign powers and local forces co-existed, and all kinds of people got along with each.
Along with form of immigrant society, social complexity of Shanghai represented in many ways, for example, vocations, languages and customs. Living in this city of diversity, people always set up associations to distinguish allies from others. At this time, some associations, such as fellow townsman’s clubs, guilds and gangs, had indispensable functions. The unity of those associations brought out the communication and mutual help between different social classes. Along with constantly social alteration, this kind of community characteristic represented in various forms. Shanghai, this immigrant society, possessed different kinds of stimuli of those associations.
In the early 20th century, by reasons of geographical and historical factors, the economical superiority and social structure of Shanghai expanded, and made it the most immigrant-characteristic city among Chinese modern cities. Because the variety of those social members, the human relations were much more complicated and important. Under this condition, the development of human network had various aspects and meanings and symbols that human activities comprised were not so simple. Human activities were built up through various social behaviors, thus there was structural development within time and space system and blended in characteristic of social culture. In Chinese ordinary society, people’s focus of life regresses to the manners of diet, clothing, housing and traffic. Mobilization of human activities and network also functions by mediums of those manners, particularly living in a circumstance with varied living cultures. People chose suitable living manners and among those manners, diet activities are the best indications and of most flexibility.
As far as consumption aspect was concerned, in Lau-Shanghai, a commercial society of diversity, manners of diet are definitely not merely for basic need and desire of human nature but also had other symbolic purposes. As far as the space aspect was concerned, teahouses and taverns in Shanghai are social locations. Space, manners of diet and consumers blended in various social languages and activities. The characteristic of relations and interactions of teahouses and taverns in Shanghai had much to do with the re-establishment of community of immigrants. Shanghai had the most and most various teahouses and taverns with varied consumers of different birthplaces, social and wealthy status and religions in China. But by reasons of variety of teahouses and taverns in shanghai, the space functions brought out through set-up of human intercourse and network are highly developed. And teahouses and taverns in Shanghai provided public space of human intercourse for those clubs. To sum up, Shanghai was the place where functions of public diet space prospered to the extremity.
Any consumption activity poses cultural connotations, not to mention those symbolic diet activities. The so-called symbolic diet activities means that they are not just to satisfy basic need and of human nature, but to achieve various human purposes. As long as diet activities are applied as symbolic behaviors, their characteristics are extraordinary multiple. Especially in a society that commerce is advancing, diet is not only for satisfying animal’s basic needs and desires, instead, it is a common activity that has symbolic meaning. Teahouses and taverns provide space catalyst, but the catalyst alters along with social and living structures even the influences are different in degree.
In this thesis, through the research about symbolic activities of diet in tea houses and taverns, we find that those places are more than simple places for drinking and eating but are places where money and power function with each other and also a space where social relations and information reproduce. We have to remind you again tat it is not teahouse or tavern but human activities in those places that contribute to social relations. Teahouses and taverns are places for eating and drinking, but have space functions that can bring out ordinary social relations and network. In other words, diet space is the cradle builds up human relations and diet activities are the cradlers. Finally, limited space such as teahouses and taverns that ferment infinite social relations and network and various cultural connotations.
The popularity of teahouses and taverns are not rural but urban character, take fashion of drinking tea for example, it is a “ trickle down” social custom. There are much more teahouses and taverns in cities which have stronger space functions than those in the villages. Teahouses and taverns in Lau-Shanghai developed to possess various social functions in this complicated immigrant society. To people of Lau-Shanghai, teahouses and taverns were not merely a substantial diet space but a space where multi-social behaviors, for example, entertainment, transaction, human intercourse, idea exchanging, mediation and showing oneself off, took place. For people nowadays, we can understand one aspect of urban life of Lau-Shanghai through research of teahouses and taverns which illuminating the complexity of social lives of Lau-Shanghai.
Key Wards: symbolic action；social language；the teahouse and tavern；space function；symbolic actions of consumption；citizen’s culture in Jiangnan；immigrant society；ordinary social relations。
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TW/091PCCU0495004 |
| Date | January 2003 |
| Creators | Lin Shu-Min, 林淑敏 |
| Contributors | 宋光宇 |
| Source Sets | National Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations in Taiwan |
| Language | zh-TW |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | 學位論文 ; thesis |
| Format | 216 |
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