The Tea Master Trilogy (3 volumes)

Author: Wang Xufeng
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The rare tea plant hidden deep in the mountains at the border of Zhejiang and Jiangxi in China has now taken root and thrived in Calcutta, the Ganges River basin in South Asia. In his book The Stagnant Empire, published in 1989, the Collège de France academic Pére specifically mentioned the earliest introduction of Chinese tea to India. He said, "The Botanical Garden in Calcutta sent descendants of Chinese seedlings dug up by the mission to all nurseries in India. In 1823, a wild tea tree was discovered in Assam, and these two varieties were hybridized. But it can be said that a significant portion of today's 'Indian tea' comes from the Chinese tea seedlings dug up by Macartney." It can be said that without the Chinese tea transported two hundred years ago from the "Lioness" warship of Macartney's mission to China, there would be no India today as the world's largest tea exporting country.
In 1793, Emperor Qianlong of the Eastern China had been on the throne for fifty-eight years. In September, it was his eighty-third birthday, and the songs of his endless life echoed through his palace and court. The year before, the Western British Empire, under the guise of celebrating his birthday, sent an embassy to China led by the former ambassador to Russia, Macartney, aiming for the first meaningful meeting between the two great Eastern and Western empires in modern times. The entire cost of the mission was borne by the East India Company.
Founded in 1600, the British East India Company presented a of two pounds and two ounces of Chinese tea as a precious gift to the British King in 1664, marking the beginning of Britain's direct import of Chinese tea. Over a hundred years later, in 1785, Britain's imports of Chinese tea had reached 1,050 pounds. The British writer Disraeli remarked on it: "Tea is somewhat like the discovery of truth—first suspected, then ultimately triumphant." The legend of the mysterious green leaves of the East in the British Isles inspired the East India Company's thinking. It was a company that both had an army and sold tea, holding a sword in one hand and accounts in the other. At this time, it had a dream of doing well by all means—transplanting Chinese tea to colonial India.
It was this dream of tea that sent the East India Company and Macartney on the same ship sailing toward the land of the Great Qing Dynasty. On September 8, 1792, the East India Company gave Macartney an order to obtain information about Chinese tea cultivation: "Tea, cotton, and silk are the items frequently imported from China or most familiar to the company, among which tea is the most important. The quantity and value of tea are very large, and if it can be planted within the territory of India, it would be the best of all."
Macartney's diplomatic mission initially failed due to the controversy over whether to kneel on one knee or two before the Chinese emperor. But Chinese tea made up for everything, introducing high-quality seedlings to India. This alone made the mission worthwhile, and in the next century, the cost of the mission would be repaid a hundredfold.
On their way south from Beijing to return home, Macartney's mission traveled from Beijing to Hangzhou, then via land through Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Guangzhou. At the border of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, they obtained specimens of tea trees. On December 23, 1793, Macartney reported to the East India Company in Guangzhou, China: "The governor (the newly appointed Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, Chang Lin) himself is very magnanimous and is not comparable to petty officials with narrow minds. With his permission, I found some tea trees, which are the several young trees and several suitable seeds that I now possess. I also agree with the company that if we can plant this plant in some place within our territory instead of relying on China, and if it can grow lushly, it will meet our wishes. The several growing plants I have obtained will surely thrive if properly cultivated; looking ahead, I am filled with joy."
In February 1794, Macartney wrote to the Governor of Bengal, Sur: "Agricultural experts believe that the soil in the Limpur region is suitable for growing tea. Fortunately, the current governor of Guangdong and Guangxi (Chang Lin) took advantage of his journey to the post and accompanied me throughout Zhejiang, guiding me through the tea-growing areas and generously allowing me to select several of the best varieties of tea trees. I have specially ordered them to be placed in appropriate boxes and covered with soil to prevent them from withering."
The rare tea plant hidden deep in the mountains at the border of Zhejiang and Jiangxi in China has now taken root and thrived in Calcutta, the Ganges River basin in South Asia. In his book The Stagnant Empire, published in 1989, the Collège de France academic Pére specifically mentioned the earliest introduction of Chinese tea to India. He said, "The Botanical Garden in Calcutta sent descendants of Chinese seedlings dug up by the mission to all nurseries in India. In 1823, a wild tea tree was discovered in Assam, and these two varieties were hybridized. But it can be said that a significant portion of today's 'Indian tea' comes from the Chinese tea seedlings dug up by Macartney." It can be said that without the Chinese tea transported two hundred years ago from the "Lioness" warship of Macartney's mission to China, there would be no India today as the world's largest tea exporting country.
When the Celestial Empire of China offered peaches to the West, it did not expect them to return with plums. But the fragrance of one plant still attracted the enchantment of another. The two plants set off from the East and the West, beginning their unique journeys in modern history.
From 1813 to 1833, the trade volume of Chinese tea and British opium was four to one. The Qing Empire was shaken by drugs. Tea is green, gentle, calm, elegant, and life-affirming; the poppy flower is colorful, passionate, unrestrained, intoxicating, and destructive. While tea went west, opium rushed east. The poets of the East and the West depicted these imported plants with completely opposing sentiments.
When the British Wal? sang of "soft, refreshing, and uplifting, like a woman's tender tongue moving," the Chinese poet Gong Zizhen in Hangzhou wrote: "Ghost-lights scatter like autumn fireflies; the fallen soldier's tearful eyes glow dimly; why not go to Huaxian as a magistrate? Spring sleep, cold food, and not yet awake."—Why not go to Guangdong's Huaxian as a magistrate? There, the opium is imported, and one can indulge without restraint, even disregarding the cold food fast of the Lantern Festival.
At that time, places like Tianjin, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Guangzhou became famous tea trading centers. After the Qing Empire signed the Treaty of Nanking in 1842, opening five ports for trade, fast ships carried Chinese tea in all directions toward the Pacific and the Atlantic. Just like this vast Eastern nation, after two thousand years of seclusion and self-sufficiency, the next great era of Chinese tea had begun.