This is a very strange story to be writing during the time of a pandemic. Or maybe, it’s not. Maybe this is a time to, every now and then, take a moment to drink some tea and take time out from the insanity that has become daily life. Either way, my friend was asking about this and I couldn’t find a satisfactory version of the story in English that jibed with the way I heard it in China. So if you ever wondered why people tap on the table with their knuckles when someone pours tea in China… or were angry because you thought they were trying to make you spill when you were pouring… read on and be ready to owe them an apology and some tea.
According to the story (that I’m sticking to) the origin of this tradition began in the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1911 A.D.) Emperor Qian Long liked to travel across the land to see what was happening for himself. Apparently an early version of Twitter that used literal birds simply wasn’t efficient enough to give him a satisfying snapshot of the world outside the palace. Of course, like any rock star it was hard for him to go anywhere without being recognized and mobbed. Unlike rock stars, not everyone loves emperors so the whole mob thing could be a real mixed bag. So he traveled in disguise.
Of course, he brought his crew with him. But like any crew that’s been with you for too long, they had a lot of habits that weren’t going to work out on a road trip. Especially not in disguise. For example, the emperor insisted that he serve tea just like anyone else. Being loyal servants, the idea of being served tea by the most mighty ruler in the land made the lot of them incredibly uncomfortable. To make up for this, they came up with a secret way to bow before the emperor every time he poured. They would use their first and second fingers like a pair of legs and bend them to tap the table with their knuckles. This was like kneeling and bowing.
In Chinese saying thank you requires three syllables: (谢谢你 | xiè xiè nǐ | thank you). So whenever the emperor would pour tea, they would fold two fingers and tap the table three times with their nuckles as they thought the words xiè xiè nǐ silently to themselves.
Like anything cool, this caught on. Now you will see people doing this all over the country and it is a nice way of thanking someone for pouring tea without interrupting the flow of conversation. Also, we all get to treat each other like emperors. And drink tea. Which is wonderful.
