Avatar:Pao

"What's going on here? Are you trying to poach my tea maker?"

— Pao to Quon.

包
(Bāo)
Pao

Pao.png

Nationality	Ba Sing Se, Earth Kingdom
Ethnicity	Earth Kingdom
Pronouns	He/him
Hair color	Black
Skin color	Light
Nickname	"Rat-beetle" (by Susu Wen)
Affiliation	Pao Family Tea House
Profession	Tea shop owner
Allies	Iroh (as Mushi), Zuko (as Lee), Jin
Enemies	Quon, Fire Nation, Jet
First appearance	"City of Walls and Secrets"
Last appearance	Chapter 17 (City of Echoes)
Voiced by	George Cheung

Pao was the owner of the Pao Family Tea House in the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se. He was a courteous man who was protective of his business and appreciated his employees. He valued Iroh's tea making skills and held him in high esteem.

History

During the Hundred Year War, Pao opened a tea shop in the Lower Ring of Ba Sing Se. Despite Iroh's claims that the tea was not good, he managed to sustain his business until at least 100 AG. Pao mostly served guards and people who made deliveries, especially those employed at nearby Lantern Road. At one point, he formed a business relationship with Wen Bakery, purposefully ordering dry flaky pastries to offer alongside his tea; this was supposed to encourage customers to buy more drinks. He developed a poor reputation among the Wen Bakery delivery workers, including Jin and Susu Wen, due to his stinginess and tendency to critique deliveries, trying to find faults to demand discounts.

Pao hired Zuko (as "Lee") and Iroh (as Mushi") to work in his tea shop, stimulating significant growth of his business due to Iroh's remarkable talent for brewing tea. Eventually, Jet attacked the tea shop to expose Zuko and Iroh as Fire Nationals, with Pao angrily protesting at the destruction of his business and assaults on his employees. His statements contributed to the Dai Li arresting Jet.

Pao tried to stop Quon from persuading Iroh to leave his tea shop.

Afterward, Pao's business continued to prosper thanks to Iroh's skill. Everything went well until Quon, a higher-class citizen, visited his tea shop after hearing about Iroh's magnificent tea-making skills. When he offered Iroh the opportunity to open his own tea shop and reside in an apartment in the Upper Ring of the city, Pao made every attempt to keep Iroh, including offering numerous job promotions, all to no avail. Excited, Iroh accepted Quon's offer, much to the distress of Pao.

After Iroh's departure, the quality of Pao's tea immediately declined. He quickly sought new workers to replace Zuko and Iroh, but was initially forced to take up their work to bridge the vacancy. Sometime later, Jin revisited the shop and was informed of the changes by the owner. Pao expressed frustration at the "ungrateful newcomers" who had accepted Quon's offer even though –as he saw it– they had the "freedom to do whatever they want" at his own small tea shop.

After the fall of Ba Sing Se in late spring 100 AG, Pao cowered in his tea shop as thousands of Fire Nation soldiers entered the city.

Appearances

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Book Two: Earth (土)

Appearances: 1

Book Three: Fire (火)

Appearances: 1

Trivia

• Pao (泡
  (pāo)) means "to boil" or "bubble", which ties in with his ownership of a tea shop.
• In the novel City of Echoes, Pao is renamed as Fung, and had his position changed from owner to manager. In an interview, author Judy I. Lin stated that the reason for the change was that she wanted to showcase classism between the Upper and Lower Rings, highlighting how Quon assumed the manager's name was the same as the teahouse without caring about what his name actually was. However, "Pao" was confirmed to be the character's name by several sources, including the credits of the episodes "City of Walls and Secrets" and "Lake Laogai", as well as commentary by Bryan Konietzko. Furthermore, Pao repeatedly described the shop and its employees as being his own.