Living in real time

"Tourists occupy the space in the afternoon, but in the morning it's still part of local daily life," says Li Jie, the producer.

The documentary captured what was going on at the teahouse over three days in June.

Early in the morning, when the clock just hits 6 and the teahouse opens for the day, regular guests come in. They are mainly elderly and middle-aged residents who used to work in the city's transportation sector.

They enjoy discounts for tea-3 yuan (43 US cents) for a cup and a water refill for free. Some regular guests have built their social life around it.

Frequent visitors have regular seats or even regular benches. Some follow time-honored routines like getting breakfast through a hatch connecting the restaurant outside, waiting at a certain time of the day to play cards or sharing samples of their plants.

Around noon, younger tourists flood in.

There's a quiet room repeatedly screening a documentary on the teahouse, and also displaying works by local artist Chen Anjian who has been depicting life scenes here for two decades.

An 18-year-old female visitor was shown a special cabinet. Regular visitors place their cups there but if one is gathering dust it may mean that the user has passed on.

The number of the cups on the cabinet has been diminishing every year.