In between "the raw" and "the cooked": the cultural speculation and debate on Puer tea in contemporary China

Abstract

This paper reflects upon one aspect of enduring as well as transformed characteristics of Chinese cultural consumption via looking at the recent Puer tea fad in contemporary China. L�vi-Strauss's binary concept on the raw and the cooked enlightens me on structuring the packaging of Puer tea from its rise to its fall and rethinking the concerns over moderation, criticism, and clarifying and obscuring the facts about Puer tea. It is these cultural concerns and the tension between each of them that are rooted in the enduring and transformed characteristics of Chinese cultural consumption, which I argue had predetermined the fate of Puer tea from its rise to its fall.