CHENGDU, Sichuan: It is a chilly afternoon in Chengdu, and one of its most popular parks is anything but still.
At the Heming Tea House, located in the heart of the city’s sprawling People’s Park, crowds of visitors – from elderly residents, couples and students to influencers and tourists – are huddling over cups of steaming “kungfu tea”.
The process itself is part art, part acrobatics – servers tip traditional long spout teapots with precision and grace, sending thin ribbons of hot tea through the air into waiting cups, without spilling a single drop.
Elsewhere in the park, teenagers in elaborate cosplay pose among fields of chrysanthemum flowers while elders practise slow ballroom steps to nostalgic Mandarin songs.
Every now and then, a high-pitched “ding” sound rings through the courtyard as an ear cleaner weaves between bamboo chairs, tending to bemused customers with fluffy cotton swabs fixed to slender metal rods.
