The nice, aromatic bowl of jasmine tea comes at a price. According to one manager, the tea used costs about 100 yuan ($15.74) per 500 grams, not a bad quality tea judging from its taste and price. Two fen per bowl hardly covers the cost.

In fact, the teahouse invests hundreds of thousands each year in the tea, water, hygiene and labor needed to maintain the tea stand, according to Yin. It is a homage to the teahouse's founder and history.

Yin Shengxi, Yin Zhijun's father, resigned from the civil service in 1979 and applied for a license to sell tea.

A bowl of dawan cha costs 2 fen at the tea stall in front of the Lao She Teahouse in Beijing.

"It was just when China had started the economic reform and opening-up policy. When visitors to Beijing arrived at Tian'anmen Square, they would have just gotten off the train and had nowhere to quench their thirst," says Yin.

"A bottle of carbonated drink cost about 15 fen. People were drinking water from a hose on Tian'anmen Square," she remembers.

Yin Shengxi and his daughter decided to provide jasmine tea in big bowls to these thirsty travelers, and set up shop at the west gate of the Qianmen watchtower. Each bowl sold for 2 fen.

Soon the elder Yin added other small goods, selling albums, scarves, flashlights, foldable umbrellas and watches. By 1988 he had enough money saved to open up Lao She Teahouse.

Yin Shengxi was among the first private entrepreneurs in the 1980s, when private business was again allowed after years of a planned economy. His dawan cha became a symbol of Beijing.

He was also one of the first to invite folk artists to perform in his teahouse, and they included ballad singers, storytellers and cross-talk performers. They remain the main attraction of the teahouse today.

Lao She Teahouse is said to be the only one in Beijing to have gathered all six traditional styles of teahouses under one roof. The first-floor restaurant offers tea at 38 yuan ($6) per person, while a courtyard style high-end teahouse on the second floor offers pots of tea from 100 to 120 yuan and a place for people to meet.

As the business matures, that little tea stall in front is no longer economically viable. Instead, it is now a reminder of the past, a last visage of what was, what had been.

It is a sentimental link to the past and for its current boss, the daughter of the founder, it is a way to repay society and a symbol of the company's social responsibility.

She always sends new recruits of the company to run the stall in front of the teahouse, so they understand the company's mission to integrate enterprise and culture.