Ninth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

In North America, tea is commonly perceived as a flavored beverage similar to coffee. In contrast, Chinese tea culture is multifaceted, ranging from an everyday drink to a profound symbol of Eastern aesthetics, as encapsulated in Kakuzo Okakura’s philosophy that tea represents ethics and religion. This research focuses on heritage, business, identity, and the gendered aspects of tea service. It explores the cultural tensions and narratives within tea culture, particularly in the context of China’s push for “cultural confidence” and soft power. The study examines how tea, as a cultural ambassador, navigates between cultural exchange and imperialism, often simplifying complex shared heritages into nationalistic branding. This paper targets the service industry, vocational schools on tea, and tourism, arguing that middle-class consumption and national goals are aligned in shaping domestic Chinese consumption of this cultured and caffeinated drink. The commercialized tea art practice in contemporary tea retailing underscores gender segregation in the tea industry, exploiting predominantly female labor. The concept of emotional labor in high-end tea retail is crucial for understanding gender and cultural dynamics in contemporary service sectors. This study, grounded in anthropology, examines the emotional labor dynamics in the high-end tea retail sector, emphasizing the gendered nature of this labor in managing customers’ emotional experiences in a traditionally revered tea-drinking atmosphere.