1. China has the longest continuous written history of any civilization in the world. How do the novel's various characters try to come to terms with their past, present, and future? Which character do you think is the most content with his or her life, and why?

2. What messages do you think the quoted lines of poetry convey?

3. What do you believe is Da Shan's motivation for returning to Shaoyang?

4. Da Shan asks for the family genealogy, which Old Zhu re-fuses to tell him. China in pre-liberation times practiced ancestor worship, and many families are able to trace their ancestors back hundreds or even thousands of years. How do you think being the first people not to know their ancestry would affect Da Shan's generation?

5. How much choice does Liu Bei have in letting Little Dragon go? What do you think of Liu Bei's decision to leave Little Dragon behind?

6. Will Madam Fan's plan to marry Da Shan and Liu Bei succeed? Explain why you think it will or won't.

7. The Drink and Dream Teahouse covers one year in the life of people living in Shaoyang. What do you imagine happens after the book ends? How will the characters' lives change?

8. How does the world of The Drink and Dream Teahouse fit or differ from your mental images of China?

9. Da Shan and Liu Bei were both involved in the democracy movement of 1989 , which culminated in the Tiananmen Square massacre. How have their futures diverged, and which has stayed truer to their original patriotic intentions?

10. From the perspective of the book, what did it seem China was like before the Communist Liberation? What hopes do you think people had for a Communist China? How much do you think those hopes were realized? How much improvement do you think capitalism brought the lives of the people, and how much has it returned China to its pre-liberation state?