The Spread of Tea from China
Tea originated from southwest mountains and took root in regions inhabited by
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| The Building of the Administration tor Tea Affairs of Ming Dynasty in Ya' an, Sichuan Province. | people of Han nationality, widely cultivated and made, whereas ethnic groups living in southwest China had to get tea from Han areas. Wherever tea arrived, it conquered local dwellers with its peculiar fascination, taking an irreplaceable position in their life. Tea was not only a personal taste or a communal habit, but was in direct connection with national security. Since tea became a daily necessity for Han people in Tang Dynasty, all dynasties in the following more than 1,000 years carried out exclusive sale of tea, and tea tax was a mainstay in each Dynasty's fiscal revenues. With its entry into the life of northwest and southwest ethnic groups, it was also widely accepted and loved, so tea became a key factor in dealing with the relation between Han nationality and minor nationalities. After it went out of China into the world market, tea concerned Chinese foreign trade and profoundly affected the foreign affairs and national fortune of China.
Tea Tax and Tea Trade System
Tea drinking was very popular in Tang Dynasty. As Old Book of Tang had it, "tea is food, no different than rice and salt. It catches on
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| An ancient dak on the Tea-Horse Road. | far and near. It dispels tiredness and appeals to all. Farmers working in the field were particularly fond of it." When tea became "food...appealing to all," the free trade and enjoyment of tea came to an end. Noticing how important tea was for common folks, the ruling class realized it was a nice means of increasing financial income, so they began levying taxes on tea. In 780, Tang government levied tax on tea to augment military budget in order to suppress mutiny, and that was the earliest tea tax. But tea tax then was merely wartime expedient, and was stopped after mutiny was put down. After l6 months, Emperor of the time issued an edict of self-criticism, which showed that the ruling class then didn't think tea tax to be a reasonable measure. Nevertheless, at the end of Tang Dynasty, seeing the successive military chaos, imperial court had to put tea tax in their schedule again, even in an intensified form. Tea was levied according to its weight rather than actual price. Later, authorities implemented full-scale exclusive sale, not only unitively purchasing all tea to be made by government, but taking the cultivation of tea into exclusive possession of government, forcing tea farmers to transplant tea trees and burn their stored tea leaves.
Bartering of Tea and Horse
Inland China produced tea leaves while northwest minor nationalities abounded in horses. In early Tang Dynasty, Han people usually exchanged silk for horses from ethnic groups. Tea was not in the major place in the bilateral trade, and leaves got by ethnic groups were only used for nobilities' consumption. After its middle period, Tang Dynasty was busy suppressing incessant insurrections. It needed large amounts of horses, but exchanging horses with silk was a losing proposition, so rulers decided
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| The large-scale horse fair at Er'yuan,Yunnan Province. | to trade tea leaves for war horses in urgent need. Meanwhile, like in inland China, tea spread from nobilities to plebeians and merged into their lives. A story had it that Tang government wanted to exchange tea for horses with Hui He(a minor nationality in northwest China)but was refused. Hui He didn't want tea leaves but preferred to offer l, 000 horses in exchange for Lu Yu's The Book of Tea. Officials of Tang Dynasty 100ked all around for this book. In the end poet Pi Rixiu (c.834-883)got one and solved this urgent matter. This story shows that drinking tea has become a fashion among ethnic groups then and tended to be more and more refined. Song, Ming and Qing dynasties after Tang all inherited the business pattern of trading tea for horses, so the history of bartering of tea and horse must have reached over l,000 years.
The Tang--Tibet Road and the Tea-Horse Road
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| The barrels used to make Suyou Tea in Tibet. |
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| A part of the Road of tea and Horse among mountains. |
Princess Wencheng brought to Tibet medicine, calendar, vegetable seed, textile and brewing technique, and tea. It is said that on arriving in Tibet, princess Wencheng wasn't accustomed to the climate and diet there. She drank half a cup of milk at breakfast, and drank half a cup of tea to dispel the strong smell. Later she just mixed milk and tea together, adding pine nut core, ghee, etc., thus giving birth to buttered tea,a drink much loved by the Tibetans.
The introduction of tea leaves greatly changed the life of the Tibetans. They have
folk ballads like this-"food of Han partly fills your stomach while tea of Tibet keeps you full," and "0ne would rather starve for three days than not drink tea for one day." This is because the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is scarce in vegetable and natives there live on meat and milk, while tea does not only help digest but provides necessary vitamins for human body.
In history, Tea-Horse Road has had three major trunks-the Tang-Tibet Road(today's Qing(Qinghai)-Zang(Tibet)trunk)and the two lines later called Dian(Yunnan)-Zang(Tibet)trunkand Chuan(Sichuan)-Zang(Tibet)trunk. Dian-Zang line starts from xishuangbanna and Simao in south Yunnan, through Lincang, Baishan, Dali, Lijiang, Zhongdian and Deqin to Changdu£¬Linzhi and Lhasa of Tibet. Chuan-Zang line sets out from Ya'an of Sichuan, through Kangding to Changdu to meet Dian-Zang line and then radiates to the whole Tibet through Lhasa. After that tea leaves are sold to the other side of Himalaya-India, Nepal, and other south Asian countries. Among these three Tea-Horse Road, the Tang-Tibet Road developed early.
Popularization of Tea Leaves in the World
The diffusion of tea from Chin
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| The Potala Palace in Lhasa, the destination of the Ancient Tang -Tibet Road. | a to the whole world has always been through two means-by sea and by land. Landway includes the tea road to middle Asia, West Asia and Europe that overlapped with the old silk road after Tang Dynasty, the business roads to south Asian countries with the Tang-Tibet Road and the Tea-Horse Road as two major trunks, and a tea road to Russia through the Mongolian Plateau exploited during Ming and Qing dynasties. Seaway consisted of three. One set from tea areas of Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang and Fujian to Japan and the Korean peninsula through Yangzhou and Quanzhou ports in Tang and Song dynasties. Another started from tea areas of Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Fujian to America through Ningbo, Quanzhou and Guangzhou ports and across the Pacific Ocean. The last one went from Nan Yang to America and through India to Europe.
In l729, China and Russia signed Kiakhta Frontier Agreement, formally settling
Kiakhta as the place where merchants of the two countries could do business, making it an important collecting and distributing place of tea and tea business prospered with speed. At the end of l8"century, the Tea Road witnessed its peak, effectively promoting the business of other goods along the road and pushing the economic communication between China and Europe. On this road, vehicle groups, horse groups and mule groups knew no end. When it came to the l830s, exportation of tea leaves accounted for 93%of the Sin0-Russian trade volume
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| The ancient Road of Tea and Horse on a cliff at Hutiao Gorge, Yunnan Province. |
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| A suspension bridge on the Ancient Tang-Tibet Road in Northern Tibet. | British demand for tea grew bigger and bigger and Sino-British trade gradually
came to focus on tea. Because of its huge request for tea leaves, Britain suffered an annually larger trade deficit in its trade with China. At the end of l8th century, Britain spent 40,000 Liang silver to import tea leaves from China through East India Company every year. It exported woolen goods, metallic goods and cotton to China too, but the total worth of those three items only amounted t0 1/6 of the worth of tea. British merchant ships were often loaded with silver to purchase tea leaves in Guangzhou. In order to change this situation, Britain levied heavy import tax on tea leaves, keeping the tax rate over l00%from l806 to 1833. Meanwhile. East India Company was actively seeking other sources for tea. However, at that time very few places other than China produced tea, and China banned exportation of tea seeds and tea-making techniques for the sake of interest protection. In l 834, Bentinck-British governor in India organized a tea committee to study the
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| Tea house (on the right) along the Tea Road in Russia. |
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| Inside view of tea yard in Urga, present-day Ulaanbaatar. | possibility of planting Chinese tea in India.
Chinese export of tea leaves to Britain gained China a large trade surplus, so British government ordered its East India Company to carry opium to China in secret, so that Sino-British trade was basically reversed. To prevent silver from outflowing, Qing government implemented a policy of banning opium-smoking and opium trade, severely attacking opium importation. This is the immediate reason for the breaking out of the Opium War between China and Britain in l840. After the war, as the winner. Britain asked for "business at five ports,"two of which were in Fujian. Britain, saim was still to control the tea areas in Fujian. Wuyi tea went on being import in large amount through Xiamen, Fuzhou and Guangzhou ports. Under the blow of the "business at five ports,"road of tea leaves that sold to the north was replaced by the"sea road of tea leaves."Shanxi business groups dealing in Wuyi tea dispersed. After the Opium War, China lost its sovereignty and territory day by day, starting its l00-year-long history of humiliation.
The Opium War and Independent War of North America were all related with tea. The tiny leaves calmly and quietly changed the power structure of the world Nevertheless, while the Opium War led to the accumulated poverty and weakness of a 1,00-year-old country, the latter signified the rising up of a modern power. What is implied in this is well worth the consideration of everyone. |
