Shanghai's quintessential teahouse has floated atop the lake at the heart of Old Town, in front of Yu Yuan, since 1784. It was built by area cotton-cloth merchants as a brokerage hall. Tea drinking was forbidden inside until the late 1800s, when it became what it is today. Believed to be the original model for Blue Willow tableware, the five-sided, two-story pavilion with red walls and uplifted black-tiled eaves has served everyone from visiting heads of state to local laborers. This is the place in Shanghai to idle over a cup of tea, seated in front of the open windows. Huxinting (meaning "mid-lake pavilion") is reached via the traditional Bridge of Nine Turnings, so designed to deflect evil spirits who are said to travel only in straight lines.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Shanghai, 5th Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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