Photo shows a full-packed tea house named Guang Ming at Barkhor Street in southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

A waitress is refilling emputy cups. [Photo/Xinhua]　

Drinking sweet tea is a part of Tibetan’s daily life. Besides home, tea houses are popular places for people from all walks of life to enjoy leisure life.

However, it was not until mid-1980s that Tibetan women appeared in tea houses which was exclusive to men before. In 1990, women became frequent guests of tea houses, and now, more and more of them are running their own tea houses.

Tersing Lhamo, 71, recalled "I was afraid of being criticized of entering a tea house like men at that time." But nowadays, she is a frequent guest of a tea house located in the Tengye Ling Lane, Lhasa.

Rising of women’s social status, first and foremost benefits from the economy development, according to Tashi, a tea house owner, whose employees are almost female.

Many women are running their own tea houses and gaining more recognition from the society, said Phudron, director of Women’s Federation in Qu Shui County, Lhasa.

Like an inland saying, the Tibetan women are now holding up half the sky, according to female staff of a tea house.