The Ah Po Teahouse located on Dongjing Street in Zhujiajiao, a famous historic water town in Qingpu District, is a "must-see" highlight of anyone's visit to the resort, particularly after it successfully hosted former Kuomintang Chairman Lien Chan and his family during their visit to the city in late October.
Soft guqin (an ancient Chinese instrument) music, antique furniture and exquisite tea sets, together with the beautiful architecture of the two-story house, all combine to reproduce the surroundings enjoyed by ancient poets when they took their leisure in a teahouse.
And what makes the place more impressive are the several hundred ancient inscribed boards displayed on the gates and in the halls.
"The newly renovated teahouse now has multiple functions," says Tang Changke, the teahouse's manager and collector of the boards. "It is more than an entertainment venue that blends fashion with tradition. We're also trying to make it one of China's largest private museums of inscribed boards."
The amiable 40-something Tang, a former bank officer and businessman, says few people today are interested in collecting inscribed boards because of their large size. They would rather collect smaller antiques like paintings, jewelry or porcelain.
Tang used to be an amateur collector of smaller antiques until he changed his mind a decade ago to inscribed signboards.
"Many people shrug off ancient boards and even refer to them as 'rotten wood'," Tang says. "But one day when I was gazing at them, I suddenly realized they had a special beauty that eclipsed the items in my former collections."
Born into an intellectual family, Tang's affinity with inscribed boards started in his childhood.
The horizontal inscribed board kept in his own family home reads: "Yu Sun San Biao." It was awarded by the imperial court of Emperor Daoguang (1821-50) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) to honor Tang's great-grandfather for his good performance in the imperial examination. Seeing his parents being so careful with it, the little Tang learned that this magic board was a symbol of glory and status.
Historians say that inscribed boards can be traced back to the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), and their use reached a peak in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties when the imperial examination system flourished. The boards made of stone, pine wood and camphor wood and with gilt characters were usually given to reward people or as birthday gifts for the elderly.
"But wood is vulnerable to the atmosphere and decays over the long passage of history," Tang says.
Tang has traveled more than 10 provinces rescuing many ancient boards from oblivion by buying them from local farmers who have used them to make furniture or have scraped the gilt for the gold.
And the expeditions have been expensive.
So far Tang has spent more than 2 million yuan (US$245,576) in collecting more than 1,000 boards dating from the Ming Dynasty to modern China. Many have beautiful Chinese calligraphy, and to keep his treasures safe, Tang has rented a large warehouse in Zhujiajiao where he spends much of his leisure time.
"It would be too expensive to rent a similar warehouse in the downtown area of Shanghai," Tang says. "But this shabby warehouse has attracted the attention of South Korean fashion magazines who have wanted to photograph models in front of the ancient ambience."
Tang plans to expand the teahouse by adding 1,000 square meters of open space with several exhibition halls to display his collection in various categories -- educational honors, birthday gifts, official awards or decorative purpose.
"There are no other antiques in China that convey as rich a store of historical information as ancient inscribed boards," Tang says. "In addition to the contents showing the ancient imperial examination system and feudal life, we can also see Chinese calligraphy, carvings and folk craftsmanship from the characters, patterns and accessories."
Among Tang's collection, a board reading "Zhi Xing Guo Ren" is quite eye-catching. The four characters meaning an appealing personality are taken from an ancient piece of writing by Ji Kang (223-262 AD) of the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280 AD). Judging by the seal and the vigor of the writing, it is believed to be a work by Dr Sun Yat-sen -- founder of Republic of China -- in honor of a lady surnamed Peng in 1924.
There are still another two interesting exhibits: One was written by Hong Jun (1839-93), a noted official of the late Qing Dynasty to compliment a widow for her beauty and virtue. But later in his life, the conservative Hong suddenly married Sai Jinhua, a well-known prostitute. The other one by Zhou Lian, an ordinary man of letters, looks no different from any other. But his wife was the creator of "Fo Tiao Qiang," a delicious and nutritious soup.
To become expert in their history and to tell the story behind each board, Tang has studied sociology, history, anthropology and literature. He found that many of the characters on the boards could not be found in modern dictionaries.
"It is a pity that still so few people are aware of the values of these ancient boards," he says. "As my collection grows bigger and bigger, its historic value will grow, and they will become priceless supplements to future research in liberal arts."
It is estimated that all over China, there're no more than 10 collectors in this field, mainly in three areas -- Chongqing in Sichuan Province, Luoyang in Shaanxi Province and Zhuhai in Guangdong Province.
Professor Zhu Shunlong from the Department of Cultural Relics and Museology at Fudan University, notes that Tang's systematic collection offers invaluable first-hand material and fills a blank of the academic research in this region.
"Amassing this collection has been energy- and time-consuming," Professor Zhu says. "Due to the size of the boards, collectors have to solve the problems of transportation and also the weather to save the boards from being damaged."
Professor Zhu says his department plans to launch a special project to study inscribed boards in collaboration with Tang to better understand the cultural relics and "to give people a deeper insight into the unique charm of the ancient boards which continues to shine today."
(Eastday.com November 30, 2005)
