Intergion
Tea Impacts On China - Green Tea
China\'s love affair with green tea is believed to have begun thousands of years ago. It took centuries for the Chinese to share this secret with their neighbors in Japan and even longer for the country to begin exporting this bountiful crop to destinations all over the world.
As China\'s second biggest export behind silk in the pre-industrial years, tea no doubt had a major impact on this country when it was finally released for general consumption. But, what exactly happened to China when the tea craze went global? Did this export create the desire for mass production and the creation of surpluses? Did it plunge the Chinese into a capital frenzy? Or, was the impact of exportation minimal?
Looking At A Microcosm
Historian Robert Gardella took a very close look at the impacts of global trade on China in the 19th century. One of his studies focused heavily on the tea trade in particular in one small region. Southeast China\'s Fujian was the subject of his study on tea and globalization in China.
Prior to global trade coming to China, this particular region survived economically by focusing on two different means. The first involved working the land and the mountains by growing crops, engaging in forestry and creating hand crafts. The second involved maritime activities, such as fishing, piracy, smuggling and migration of people out of China. These two distinct ways of living came together in a big way when in 1842 the Port of Fuzhou was opened up to foreign trade. This led to a huge rise in tea exportation to the United States, Great Britain and other global destinations. Tea produced in the northern area of Fujian was suddenly in high demand - a state that would remain so through the 1880s.
As China\'s second biggest export behind silk in the pre-industrial years, tea no doubt had a major impact on this country when it was finally released for general consumption. But, what exactly happened to China when the tea craze went global? Did this export create the desire for mass production and the creation of surpluses? Did it plunge the Chinese into a capital frenzy? Or, was the impact of exportation minimal?
Looking At A Microcosm
Historian Robert Gardella took a very close look at the impacts of global trade on China in the 19th century. One of his studies focused heavily on the tea trade in particular in one small region. Southeast China\'s Fujian was the subject of his study on tea and globalization in China.
Prior to global trade coming to China, this particular region survived economically by focusing on two different means. The first involved working the land and the mountains by growing crops, engaging in forestry and creating hand crafts. The second involved maritime activities, such as fishing, piracy, smuggling and migration of people out of China. These two distinct ways of living came together in a big way when in 1842 the Port of Fuzhou was opened up to foreign trade. This led to a huge rise in tea exportation to the United States, Great Britain and other global destinations. Tea produced in the northern area of Fujian was suddenly in high demand - a state that would remain so through the 1880s.