Cafe culture

Coffee shop culture can be traced back to the last century, this nation has just moved from the feudal imperial court culture to cosmopolitan Shanghai, where the nutrition learned from cafes began to become popular. At that time, writers such as Shi Zhecun, Mu Shiying and Liu Naou often lingered in cafes, savoring one classic article after another in the warm, soft, sweet and astringent aroma of coffee. As a carrier of urban culture and an indispensable cell, cafes are duty-bound to undertake a major task of promoting cosmopolitanism.

In France, cafes have become a kind of public space full of political and cultural significance, and French cafes have even become a common place for many American and European literati to escape from the cruel life after World War I. Many years later, the cafes introduced into China, whether in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Qingdao and Harbin, have less political atmosphere and stronger cultural meaning-- although the cultural meaning that now fills the cafe has been fading day by day, however, when we look back, we have to be impressed by the different customs and cultures of different countries contained in the cafes at that time. The culture of cafes has created the writing style of a generation of writers.

Decades have passed, and nowadays people are more and more influenced by Western culture. In the increasingly westernized way of life, cafes are not uncommon. At that time, the Russian Cafe and Sullivan Cafe were certainly different from the cafes full of streets now. at that time, it was a place for cultural gatherings, while today's cafes are mostly like Starbucks, more like a reading lounge and a shopping lounge.

After more than a decade, a generation of young people are growing up. After they grow up, with the two trends of studying abroad and going abroad, people become more westernized and more familiar with the Western way of life and entertainment. Cafes gradually enter the moment of ordinary life. We often go to the cafe to sit down after dinner, and we often go to the cafe to have a rest when we are tired of shopping. We even have an appointment with friends we don't usually have to go to on weekends, go to the cafe to talk, set up a dragon gate in the north and south, and then go home separately, just to pass the time.

At that time, the exotic atmosphere and strong cultural atmosphere are hard to find in cafes. Now in the cafe, we can only see the young men and women of the petty bourgeoisie class who do not have much profound culture and family origin, red clothes and green sleeves, falling in love, plain and straightforward, and those young people whose age is completely proportional to the age of their hearts. even psychologically a little younger than it really is. For cafes, all they know is that this is a place to drink coffee, or they can take a break and fall in love with their girlfriends, or they can talk about boring topics with friends who are inconvenient to be guests at home for a while. These young children, they love all kinds of coffee brands, they can tell what is authentic cappuccino and what is authentic Irish coffee; however, they do not know what "Russian Business Renaissance House" is. They have not read the Coffee Prose, and of course they do not understand why the cafe has become a favorite place for literary and cultural people.

At that time, the culture of the cafe has disappeared like a cloud, leaving no trace. Today's cafes can no longer find the cultural meaning they once had. In coffee, there is no more literature, no poetry, no love.

Last year, when I was not too busy, I would go to the cafe by myself for a while. This year, I don't have the mood and time, so naturally I won't go. Today, when I was walking on the road with my brother, I wanted to talk to him about the culture of the cafe. It occurred to me that last year, when my brother and I were not familiar with each other, one day we got tired of walking down Central Street and walked into a French-style cafe for coffee. It was one day in May, the weather was still cold, the wind was blowing slightly and the clouds were flowing slightly. We were chatting softly, and those words and the situation of that day turned into a deep blue that could not be eliminated in our memory. In a twinkling of an eye, a year later, today, the weather is still cold, the wind is blowing slightly, the clouds flow slightly, my brother and I are still tired of walking on the Central Street, and walk into a cafe for coffee. This one is much worse, no matter in style or taste, I think, make do with it. After all, I went out for a walk with my brother.

I wanted to talk to him about the deep culture once contained in the cafe, to talk to him about Shanghai's cosmopolitanism, to talk to him about the deep imprint of the broad and sad Russian culture on the city, but, with a light smile, in frowning and poor mouths, we did not talk about the long-lasting fragrance in those books. Instead, he just had a cup of coffee, then got up and left.

The door of the cafe closed behind us, and we continued to walk on the stone road, with many pedestrians, noisy and busy, windy and cold. The slightest-- people, ah, did not feel how much conversation and culture there had been in these cafes so many years ago.

China Coffee Trading Network: www.gafei.com