Lawyer's Tea House (Issue 12)

Author: Zhang Shibo
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: The Tea Party of Legal Scholars 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 Party advocates using the language of the common people to discuss their affairs, talk about the issues they care about, and explain the principles of law in their daily lives. However, do not underestimate this small volume—its authors are mostly first-class legal scholars in China, which has earned The Tea Party of Legal Scholars the reputation of being a "popularization series of academic elites in the legal field."
The Tea Party of Legal Scholars is a magazine-style book, published quarterly. It inherits the style of The Tea Party of Economists—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 close to readers and their lives. It has a clear market positioning and a strong reader-conscious approach. It values taste but does not blindly pursue academia; it stays close to life but does not blindly chase trends; it emphasizes popularization but never seeks vulgarity. To further enhance its readability and meet readers' needs, The Tea Party of Legal Scholars also carefully selects over 30 cartoons and illustrations.
In The Tea Party, numerous legal scholars approach the subject with a relaxed mindset, using as plain language as possible to explain the principles of law in people's daily lives. This style of blending theoretical depth with popular accessibility is truly unique among the many legal publications available today.
In recent years, Pu'er tea from Yunnan has become popular in Beijing. For a time, the market offered hundreds of varieties of Pu'er tea. Due to the lack of specialized knowledge and experience, tea drinkers found it difficult to distinguish between high and low-quality teas, and even 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—one that is quite challenging to master.
During the Tang Dynasty, this skill was called "Bie Cha" (tea discrimination). The great poet Bai Juyi was an expert in this art, as evidenced by his poem: "I will send tea to others after sending it to myself, for I am a skilled tea discriminator." In the Song Dynasty, "Bie Cha" was also known as "Fen Cha" (tea grading), becoming a game among scholars and literati for tasting and evaluating tea. Lu You once wrote the line: "With low paper and slanting script, I casually jot down grass; by the sunny window, I playfully grade tea with fine froth."