Shun Xing Old Teahouse

Shun Xing is a working museum of Chengdu teahouse culture: high-ceilinged, wood-carved, and busy from morning to night with tea drinkers, opera singers, and masters of the famous Chengdu ear-cleaning craft circulating between tables.

You can sip a pot for the price of a coffee, watch face-changing opera performances staged a few times a day, and - if you dare - try the ear-cleaning that locals swear by. It is loud, theatrical, and completely authentic, the single best room in Chengdu to absorb the city's tea culture at full volume.