Legal Scholars' Tea House - (Issue 12)

Author: Zhang Shibo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: The Scholar's Tea House is a magazine-style book published by Shandong People's Publishing House. This small volume is edited by Professor He Jiahong of Renmin University of China. Its content is light, leisurely, and elegant, aiming to bring law out of its extraordinary "ivory tower" and into the homes of ordinary people. The Tea House advocates using everyday language to discuss matters of concern to the people, talk about issues they care about, and explain legal principles in their daily lives. However, do not underestimate this small volume—its authors are mostly first-class legal scholars in China, earning it the reputation of being the "popularization series of the academicians in the legal field." The Scholar's Tea House is a magazine-style book, published quarterly. It inherits the style of The Economist's Tea House—light, leisurely, and elegant. On one hand, it emphasizes the authority of its authors, with most contributors being top legal scholars in China; on the other hand, it emphasizes the accessibility of the book, striving to make its content relatable to readers and their lives. It has a clear market positioning and a strong reader awareness. It values taste but is not blindly academic; it stays close to life but does not blindly chase trends; it emphasizes popularization but never resorts to vulgarity. To further enhance its readability and meet readers' needs, The Scholar's Tea House also carefully selects and includes over 30 cartoons and illustrations. In The Tea House, numerous legal scholars approach the subject with a relaxed mindset, using as plain language as possible to explain legal principles in people's daily lives. This style of blending theoretical depth with popular accessibility is truly unique among the many legal books and publications available today. In recent years, Pu-erh tea from Yunnan has become popular in Beijing. For a time, there were hundreds of varieties of Pu-erh tea on the market. Due to the lack of specialized knowledge and experience, tea drinkers found it difficult to distinguish between high and low quality, and some tea merchants struggled to grade them. In fact, since ancient times, identifying the quality and grading of tea has been a specialized skill in the tea trade, and one that is quite difficult to master. During the Tang Dynasty, this skill was called "Bie Cha" (tea identification). The great poet Bai Juyi was an expert in this skill, as evidenced by his poem: "I will send it to others only after sending it to myself, for I am a tea identifier." In the Song Dynasty, "Bie Cha" was also called "Fen Cha" (tea grading), and it had become a game among scholars and literati for tasting and evaluating tea. Lu You once wrote the line: "On low paper, I write, On sunny windowsill, I playfully grade tea like fine milk."