Chaozhou's Jiadi Lane, where tea is still brewed at the front door

Most visitors to Chaozhou walk Paifang Street from end to end and then leave by Guangji Bridge. The older city is a few steps away, in residential lanes where families still brew tea in their doorways.

The restored street and the lanes behind it

Paifang Street (牌坊街, Páifāng Jiē) was rebuilt in the late 2000s. Its memorial arches were reconstructed, and its shopfronts now sell snacks and souvenirs. The lanes that run off it are quieter and narrower, and most are marked only by a blue street plate.

Jiadi Lane, door by door

Jiadi Lane (甲第巷, Jiǎdì Xiàng) is worth walking slowly. Its Qing-era courtyard houses still have granite door frames, carved wooden lintels and rooflines finished in qianci (嵌瓷). Qianci is a Chaozhou craft in which cut porcelain shards are pressed into plaster to make flowers, birds and figures. Most of these homes are still lived in, so look from the threshold and do not go past it.

Come early. By eight there are bicycles against the stone and someone hosing down a step, with Chaozhou opera playing low on a radio. In the late afternoon the light falls between the eaves, and the carving is at its clearest.

Tea at the threshold

Here gongfu tea (工夫茶, gōngfu chá) is a household habit, not a show. It takes a small clay pot, three thimble-sized cups and usually Phoenix dancong oolong (凤凰单丛, Fènghuáng dāncóng) from the mountains north of the city. Visitors who linger politely are sometimes waved onto a low stool. Take the cup with both hands, drink it in two or three sips and put it back on the tray.

茶三酒四游玩二。

The local saying, chá sān jiǔ sì yóuwán èr, holds that tea is best shared among three, wine among four, and a walk between two. It suits these lanes, which are narrow enough that two people walk them best.