This is the first book-length history of Chinese teahouses in either the English-speaking world or in China, examining economic, social, political, and cultural changes as funneled through the teahouses of Chengdu during the first half of the twentieth century. The images that are brought together in this work paint a complete picture of everyday culture in the most basic unit of public life. This examination of the teahouse and public life from the perspective of microhistory takes us into the depths of a city to explore urban society in depth and provides a new way to look at the Chinese city and at everyday culture.