The Beauty of Chinese Yixing Teapots: And the Finer Arts of Tea Drinking (Hardcover)

~ Lim Kean Siew (Author) "This book is not about the history or the grandeur of tea, of which so much is written..." (more)
Key Phrases: Tie Guanyin, Huangjin Gui, Lao Shuixian (more...)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 154 pages
• Publisher: Times Editions Pte Ltd; illustrated edition edition (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9812320822
• ISBN-13: 978-9812320827
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 9.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,926,849 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The beauty of this book......, June 24, 2002

By	Mary Clement Hill (Corvallis, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a real stunner for anyone who has a penchant for YiXing teapots. When I received this lovely work as a Christmas gift, I was so stunned, I almost cried. Lim Kean Siew is obviously a great lover of these unique teapots and this book does a beautiful job of displaying that love. The photos are perfectly lit, show fine detail and make you really want each teapot! But, sorry, all of the teapots pictured are from his private collection. He does a nice job of describing his early tea experiences, his budding appreciation of YiXing teapots and the history of where they originated. I found the duel printing of his words in both english and chinese very welcome and helped to set the 'atmosphere' of this book. And, since you purchase one of these teapots for both use and artistic beauty, he displays gorgeous teapot images from his private collection with a recommendation of the precise tea best enjoyed in that teapot. While not all that useful (the recommendations), the photos are certainly stunning 'eye candy'. From the very first teapot pictured, I simply wanted to own each and every one. After his gallery of teapots he describes how to enjoy tea properly. He goes into enough detail to satisfy any YiXing teapot enthusist. My only complaints (if you can call them that): the teapots pictured are one of a kind so tea recommendations are not very helpful, the translation from Chinese to English could be a little bit better and I think the editor should have pared some of the rambling (the tests at the end maybe?). But, I assure you, this is a very nice book that would make a great conversation piece.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Passionate and authoritative, January 11, 2005

By	A. T. B. Tan (UK) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After exhaustive enquiries by both myself and my family, i have finally got a hold of this book. my brother found it, by chance, in a chinese tea shop in penang. the shop had 2 copies left - 1 that he had autographed. they sold me the other one.
A beautiful book, everything i expected and more. As a lover of chinese teas, I found Mr Lim's thoughts both unique and sensible. Not all chinese tea conossieurs may agree with his views but nonetheless, this is a book written with both passion and authority.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Must read for Chinese tea lovers, November 9, 2001

By A Customer

In this book, the author is looking at the relationship between Yixing pots and Chinese tea from a new point of view based on his experiments. Yixing pots are unglazed stone ware only made in Yixing, China. Tea lovers have been treasuring those pots for hundreds of years, not only for their artistic value, but also for their practical side, the pots enhances the flavour of tea. His theory is a Yixing pot speaks for itself--a pot chooses tea to be made. The book includes plenty of beautiful pictures of Yixing pots and the explanations about his experiments. His efforts definitely brings the art of drinking Chinese tea to the new heights. I just wanted little more reading parts. But this is a beautiful book by all means and I recommend everybody who loves tea.