Old Shanghai Teahouse, China

Burke's Backyard Overseas

Don and the Burke's Backyard team visited the Yu Gardens Bazaar in Shanghai. This is a 'Disneyland version' of historical China. Here the Huxin Ting Teahouse seems to float over a lake filled with countless thousands of goldfish. Built in 1784 by cotton merchants, the five-sided, two-storey pavilion became a teahouse a century later. The teahouse looks familiar to many tourists, who think it many have been the model for Blue Willow tableware.

The shopping area surrounding the teahouse is a mix of the old and the new. There are vendors selling everything from chopsticks to bamboo products, fans, silk, incense sticks, and regional arts and crafts. Not far from the zigzag bridge there is modern shopping mall, with department stores and fast-food outlets selling hamburgers as well as dumplings.

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