Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Viking (2010), Edition: 1st Printing, 272 pages
Description
Business. Cooking & Food. History. Nonfiction. In 1848, the British East India Company, having lost its monopoly on the tea trade, engaged Robert Fortune, a Scottish gardener, botanist, and plant hunter, to make a clandestine trip into the interior of China-territory forbidden to foreigners-to steal the closely guarded secrets of tea horticulture and manufacturing. For All the Tea in China is the remarkable account of Fortune's journeys into China-a thrilling narrative that combines history, geography, botany, natural science, and old-fashioned adventure. Disguised in Mandarin robes, Fortune ventured deep into the country, confronting pirates, hostile climate, and his own untrustworthy men as he made his way to the epicenter of tea production, the remote Wu Yi Shan hills. One of the most daring acts of corporate espionage in history, Fortune's pursuit of China's ancient secret makes for a classic nineteenth-century adventure tale, one in which the fate of empires hinges on the feats of one extraordinary man.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member cameling
This is a wonderful book tracing the origins of tea since the 1800s. The journey of green and black tea from the mountains of China to the slopes of the Himalayas to the common teapots in England is outlined in detail, thanks to the memoir and copious notes taken by Robert Fortune, the man
For such a slim volume, this book packs a great deal of fascinating information. There's the journeys of Robert Fortune itself and his adventures among the Chinese during the mid 1800s, how he disguised himself as a mandarin to avoid hostilities, his brush with pirates in the high seas, and his experiments which improved the success rate in transporting delicate plants and seeds from China to India and back to England. In addition to this, bearing in mind the focus of this book being tea, we are also treated to an insight into the secrets of tea growing and harvesting, which had remained closely guarded secrets by the Chinese, until they were uncovered by Robert Fortune and smuggled out of China. We're even given tips to the proper way to brew a good pot of tea.
Lest you think this is nothing but a horticultural lesson, Ms Rose, includes relevant historical notes on the Taiping Revolution, the Opium Wars, the beginnings of the Indian movement towards independence, Britain's economic and industrial growth and the smuggling of Chinese coolies out of China to other parts of the world. She explains not only what these events are, but what caused them and why they were important events.
Robert Fortune's notes on the Chinese secrets of tea-growing and harvesting, in addition to his hiring and transporting Chinese tea experts to India, can be considered industrial espionage, for surely if he had been discovered by the Chinese government, he would have been arrested and possibly executed.
Fascinating read.
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responsible for not only bringing high quality teas to England but also for bringing back many flowering plants and hedgerows that are now found in many an English garden.For such a slim volume, this book packs a great deal of fascinating information. There's the journeys of Robert Fortune itself and his adventures among the Chinese during the mid 1800s, how he disguised himself as a mandarin to avoid hostilities, his brush with pirates in the high seas, and his experiments which improved the success rate in transporting delicate plants and seeds from China to India and back to England. In addition to this, bearing in mind the focus of this book being tea, we are also treated to an insight into the secrets of tea growing and harvesting, which had remained closely guarded secrets by the Chinese, until they were uncovered by Robert Fortune and smuggled out of China. We're even given tips to the proper way to brew a good pot of tea.
Lest you think this is nothing but a horticultural lesson, Ms Rose, includes relevant historical notes on the Taiping Revolution, the Opium Wars, the beginnings of the Indian movement towards independence, Britain's economic and industrial growth and the smuggling of Chinese coolies out of China to other parts of the world. She explains not only what these events are, but what caused them and why they were important events.
Robert Fortune's notes on the Chinese secrets of tea-growing and harvesting, in addition to his hiring and transporting Chinese tea experts to India, can be considered industrial espionage, for surely if he had been discovered by the Chinese government, he would have been arrested and possibly executed.
Fascinating read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member Chatterbox
Oh, how I wanted to love this book. I'm a sucker for books of this kind, that shed light on little known historical episodes or trends, whether it's Mark Kurlansky writing about cod, Dava Sobel about the quest to solve the problem of longitude, or last year's fabulous book about the production of
Most importantly, I was left puzzling over what appeared to be big gaps between the jacket description, which promised a tale of adventure as Robert Fortune, disguised in Mandarin robes, roamed the Chinese mountains in search of the tea plants, and the reality of the book. For one thing, Fortune's Chinese expeditions make up perhaps only a third of what is already a rather slender book (my advance copy clocks in at 250 pages or so.) And there are big gaps here. Fortune disguised himself as a Mandarin, yet he didn't speak fluent Chinese of any kind. Did no officials suspect him? Was there a tacit conspiracy to just wink at his endeavors? Had other plant-hunters in China run afoul of officialdom? With most books of this kind that I read I am delighted at new discoveries; this time, I found myself jotting down a list of questions about things like this which piqued my curiosity but which were left unanswered. In all, Fortune seems to have had a relatively straightforward time of things, given the difficulties of traveling in an unknown country with no transportation infrastructure.
That being the case, I was glad to have the additional material in this book, which roams from the new tea plantation in the Indian Himalayas to Calcutta; from discussion of new shipping technologies for fragile plant life to details on how to brew a proper cup of tea. But the jumps back and forth in detail -- this book covers everything from the concept of plant exchanges as part of British colonial trade to the Indian Mutiny -- and felt overly choppy. Meanwhile, details of life in the China through which Fortune was passing remain skimpy. Did he see or know of foreigners who had transgressed the emperor's rules about where they could live? Did he worry about this? Did he encounter any Taiping rebels; what did he think about a Hakka would-be scholar calling himself the second son of God and Jesus's younger brother? Did he try to get to some of the premier tea gardens around Hangzhou when his annoying servants directed his sedan chair through the city instead of around it? I'm going to have to turn to Fortune's own chronicles to find out.
It's a mildly interesting survey of what was probably a fascinating experience. It will probably be somewhat interesting to the casual reader, but there are other (and better) books about botanic adventuring out there, among them Flower Hunters by Mary Gribbin; Jennifer Potter's Strange Blooms: The Curious Lives and Adventures of the John Tradescants or The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession by Andreas Wulf. If you're interested in the general issue of adventurous plant hunters or botany, try these (or Anna Pavord's new book, Searching for Order: The History of the Alchemists, Herbalists and Philosophers Who Unlocked the Secrets of the Plant World. (She wrote a very popular book about the tulip and tulip mania a while back.) This book had too many gaps for me to call it a good and compelling account of the times and the events, even though it has its moments.
A big weakness is the absence of any kind of footnotes. These didn't have to be numbered footnotes and could, instead, have been end-notes that don't interrupt the flow of such popular and non-scholarly histories. But I lost track of the number of times I went to look for the source of a particular anecdote or piece of information, before recalling that there are no detailed footnotes. That would have been less of a problem if the narrative had been less choppy and thus engrossed me more, or if there had been fewer gaps in the narrative.
Recommended to general readers with modest expectations; this is interesting, but not a dramatic or exciting read.
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the first map to name America (The Fourth Part of the World: The Race to the Ends of the Earth, and the Epic Story of the Map That Gave America Its Name by Toby Lester). What all those books have in common is effortless writing that makes the in-depth research the authors did almost vanish (just as when you watch Olympic figure skating, you forget that it's athletic), the ability to immerse me in another world, and a broader context. Despite starting out with a fascinating story -- a disguised Scotsman trying to walk off with large quantities of China's prized tea plants and tea-making technologies, so that England wouldn't have to rely on the erratic supply from China but could develop their own tea plantations in India -- Rose doesn't really deliver on several fronts. Most importantly, I was left puzzling over what appeared to be big gaps between the jacket description, which promised a tale of adventure as Robert Fortune, disguised in Mandarin robes, roamed the Chinese mountains in search of the tea plants, and the reality of the book. For one thing, Fortune's Chinese expeditions make up perhaps only a third of what is already a rather slender book (my advance copy clocks in at 250 pages or so.) And there are big gaps here. Fortune disguised himself as a Mandarin, yet he didn't speak fluent Chinese of any kind. Did no officials suspect him? Was there a tacit conspiracy to just wink at his endeavors? Had other plant-hunters in China run afoul of officialdom? With most books of this kind that I read I am delighted at new discoveries; this time, I found myself jotting down a list of questions about things like this which piqued my curiosity but which were left unanswered. In all, Fortune seems to have had a relatively straightforward time of things, given the difficulties of traveling in an unknown country with no transportation infrastructure.
That being the case, I was glad to have the additional material in this book, which roams from the new tea plantation in the Indian Himalayas to Calcutta; from discussion of new shipping technologies for fragile plant life to details on how to brew a proper cup of tea. But the jumps back and forth in detail -- this book covers everything from the concept of plant exchanges as part of British colonial trade to the Indian Mutiny -- and felt overly choppy. Meanwhile, details of life in the China through which Fortune was passing remain skimpy. Did he see or know of foreigners who had transgressed the emperor's rules about where they could live? Did he worry about this? Did he encounter any Taiping rebels; what did he think about a Hakka would-be scholar calling himself the second son of God and Jesus's younger brother? Did he try to get to some of the premier tea gardens around Hangzhou when his annoying servants directed his sedan chair through the city instead of around it? I'm going to have to turn to Fortune's own chronicles to find out.
It's a mildly interesting survey of what was probably a fascinating experience. It will probably be somewhat interesting to the casual reader, but there are other (and better) books about botanic adventuring out there, among them Flower Hunters by Mary Gribbin; Jennifer Potter's Strange Blooms: The Curious Lives and Adventures of the John Tradescants or The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession by Andreas Wulf. If you're interested in the general issue of adventurous plant hunters or botany, try these (or Anna Pavord's new book, Searching for Order: The History of the Alchemists, Herbalists and Philosophers Who Unlocked the Secrets of the Plant World. (She wrote a very popular book about the tulip and tulip mania a while back.) This book had too many gaps for me to call it a good and compelling account of the times and the events, even though it has its moments.
A big weakness is the absence of any kind of footnotes. These didn't have to be numbered footnotes and could, instead, have been end-notes that don't interrupt the flow of such popular and non-scholarly histories. But I lost track of the number of times I went to look for the source of a particular anecdote or piece of information, before recalling that there are no detailed footnotes. That would have been less of a problem if the narrative had been less choppy and thus engrossed me more, or if there had been fewer gaps in the narrative.
Recommended to general readers with modest expectations; this is interesting, but not a dramatic or exciting read.
Show Less
LibraryThing member edwinbcn
For all the tea in China. How England stole the world's favorite drink and changed history is an enjoyable read, but should not be taken at face-value. The book may be an enjoyable read for Englishmen who like to dream about past glorious days of Empire and readers who want to read and adventure
Under the guidance of Joseph Banks, who travelled as a botanist attached to James Cook's exploratory surveys, the Royal Society worked to turn Kew gardens into the world's largest repository of botanical specimens and develop knowledge and use this knowledge to transplant crops and live-stock throughout the British Empire to the best agricultural advatntage, policies and practice which were continued long after his death. While many people have heard of the Mutiny of the Bounty, few know that the purpose of the voyage of the Bounty was to sail to Tahiti to take a load of potted breadfruit trees on board and transport these trees across the globe to the Caribbean to transplant this crop in an attempt to grow breadfruit there as a suitable source of food for slaves. The transplatation of crops and live-stock, such as the introduction of sheep to Australia, helped Britain to make its colonies more productive and profitable.
One of the most prized crops, which Britain imported from China, was tea. The high price of tea, the high demand for it in Britain and the facts that China considered itself self-sufficient, meaning it was glad to export but refused to import any good from Britain, led to a serious trade deficit, which threatened to bankrupt the British. Attempts by the British to offset the import of tea by an export of opium, creating a growing demand for the drug by poisoning the Chinese population met with obvious resistance, resulting in the Opium Wars with China, threatened the supply of tea, so that the British sought ways to grow tea in its colonies, specifically in India.
While in the eighteenth century, the job of botanist and explorer was the affair of aristocratic young men, by the nineteeth century the (natural) sciences, particularly in connection with exploration, offered good opportunities to young men of humbler origins. Low salaries could be comfortable supplemented with profitable undertakings such as the collection and sale of (plant) speciments, china and chinoiseries and the writing of books about their travels.
Robert Fortune (1812 – 1880) was a botanist, who travelled to the Far East several times, visiting Japan, mainland China, Taiwan and India. He discovered several plant species, some of which are named after him, and introduced hundreds of plants, including different varieties of roses to British gardens. Fortune was instrumental in the compilation of knowledge of growing and processing tea, rice and silk. Between 1847 and 1863 he published six books about his travels of exploration. Apart from his published work, very little is known about Robert Fortune, as his wife is reported to have destroyed his personal effects, diaries, journals and correspondence after his death.
For all the tea in China. How England stole the world's favorite drink and changed history is largely based on the books by Robert Fortune as very little other authentic source material is available. However, Sarah Rose's book is not an academic publication, so no footnotes are used, and it is hard to know where the author took her information, or whether in fact the book is perhaps a popularized account of a compilation of works by Robert Fortune. It very much seems to be.
It is clear that Sarah Rose writes well, and can tell a story, but perhaps she is not the right person to tell this story. Her book is mainly an adventure story, with very little or no historical accuracy. Ms Rose either lacks the critical faculty or decided to switch it off in order to twist history to its most advantageous way and sacrifice truth and accuracy on the altar of a commercial success. The main premise of her book is that Fortune was commissioned to steal the tea plant from China, and be the first to do so, thereby effectively breaking China's tea monopoly. However, China had no monopoly on tea, and tea specimens, i.e. living plants, had already been collected by British botanical gardens in Sri Lanka more than two decades before Fortune's travels.
Fortune's travels into the interior of China took place between 1845 and 1860, at a time of hightened agression against foreign imperialists. Britain fought two Opium Wars with China in the 1840s and 1860, so a certain degree of discretion was perhaps necessary. However, whether Robert Fortune's disguise was customary and 'normal' or necessitated by the secrecy of his mission is not clear. It is all rather unlikely that Fortune's several months long expeditions, carrying glass cases with plant specimens went truly unnoticed, as the author claims.
The Introduction of the book is embarrassingly nationalistic, displaying the spirit of British colonialism favourably and without any sense of shame. Descriptions of interaction with the Chinese are enlivened by the use of the British-Chinese pidgin, e.g. chop-chop meaning "quick", but other usage of Chinese pinyin is at times painfully incorrect, as e.g. zou means "go", but would never be used by Chinese people in that way, as the Chinese imperative form would include the particle "ba" as in zou ba, which would then mean "let's go", but the author should have used (kuai) Pao in that particular context to mean "let's get out of here!".
There are various other inconsistencies and sometimes the author creates confusion. The use of the word "Bohea" as a geographical designation or a more generic term for black tea is not always clear. Rose describes how Robert Fortune discovered that green tea and black tea both come from the same plant, nonetheless in the later part of the book the author keeps confusing readers by relating Fortune's mission to collect both seeds of green tea plants and black tea plants. Although the book includes descriptions of tea utensils and ways of making tea, while referring to different types of tea, the author never explains the differences between for example Da Hong Pao tea and other varieties.
In the final chapters, the author describes the success of British tea grown in India and attributing this success to the endeavors of Robert Fortune. This is historically incorrect as through trial and error, the Indian tea trade is largely based on cultivars which were indigenous to the Indian Himalayas. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica "At first they used seeds from China, but later seeds from the clonal Assam plant were used."
For all the tea in China remains an interesting read as an adventure story, at most.
Show More
story of exploration without the need for historical accuracy. The merit of the book is that it pulls the historical figure, botanist and explorer, Robert Fortune out of the shadows of oblivion, but its demerit is that is does not do him a very good turn.Under the guidance of Joseph Banks, who travelled as a botanist attached to James Cook's exploratory surveys, the Royal Society worked to turn Kew gardens into the world's largest repository of botanical specimens and develop knowledge and use this knowledge to transplant crops and live-stock throughout the British Empire to the best agricultural advatntage, policies and practice which were continued long after his death. While many people have heard of the Mutiny of the Bounty, few know that the purpose of the voyage of the Bounty was to sail to Tahiti to take a load of potted breadfruit trees on board and transport these trees across the globe to the Caribbean to transplant this crop in an attempt to grow breadfruit there as a suitable source of food for slaves. The transplatation of crops and live-stock, such as the introduction of sheep to Australia, helped Britain to make its colonies more productive and profitable.
One of the most prized crops, which Britain imported from China, was tea. The high price of tea, the high demand for it in Britain and the facts that China considered itself self-sufficient, meaning it was glad to export but refused to import any good from Britain, led to a serious trade deficit, which threatened to bankrupt the British. Attempts by the British to offset the import of tea by an export of opium, creating a growing demand for the drug by poisoning the Chinese population met with obvious resistance, resulting in the Opium Wars with China, threatened the supply of tea, so that the British sought ways to grow tea in its colonies, specifically in India.
While in the eighteenth century, the job of botanist and explorer was the affair of aristocratic young men, by the nineteeth century the (natural) sciences, particularly in connection with exploration, offered good opportunities to young men of humbler origins. Low salaries could be comfortable supplemented with profitable undertakings such as the collection and sale of (plant) speciments, china and chinoiseries and the writing of books about their travels.
Robert Fortune (1812 – 1880) was a botanist, who travelled to the Far East several times, visiting Japan, mainland China, Taiwan and India. He discovered several plant species, some of which are named after him, and introduced hundreds of plants, including different varieties of roses to British gardens. Fortune was instrumental in the compilation of knowledge of growing and processing tea, rice and silk. Between 1847 and 1863 he published six books about his travels of exploration. Apart from his published work, very little is known about Robert Fortune, as his wife is reported to have destroyed his personal effects, diaries, journals and correspondence after his death.
For all the tea in China. How England stole the world's favorite drink and changed history is largely based on the books by Robert Fortune as very little other authentic source material is available. However, Sarah Rose's book is not an academic publication, so no footnotes are used, and it is hard to know where the author took her information, or whether in fact the book is perhaps a popularized account of a compilation of works by Robert Fortune. It very much seems to be.
It is clear that Sarah Rose writes well, and can tell a story, but perhaps she is not the right person to tell this story. Her book is mainly an adventure story, with very little or no historical accuracy. Ms Rose either lacks the critical faculty or decided to switch it off in order to twist history to its most advantageous way and sacrifice truth and accuracy on the altar of a commercial success. The main premise of her book is that Fortune was commissioned to steal the tea plant from China, and be the first to do so, thereby effectively breaking China's tea monopoly. However, China had no monopoly on tea, and tea specimens, i.e. living plants, had already been collected by British botanical gardens in Sri Lanka more than two decades before Fortune's travels.
Fortune's travels into the interior of China took place between 1845 and 1860, at a time of hightened agression against foreign imperialists. Britain fought two Opium Wars with China in the 1840s and 1860, so a certain degree of discretion was perhaps necessary. However, whether Robert Fortune's disguise was customary and 'normal' or necessitated by the secrecy of his mission is not clear. It is all rather unlikely that Fortune's several months long expeditions, carrying glass cases with plant specimens went truly unnoticed, as the author claims.
The Introduction of the book is embarrassingly nationalistic, displaying the spirit of British colonialism favourably and without any sense of shame. Descriptions of interaction with the Chinese are enlivened by the use of the British-Chinese pidgin, e.g. chop-chop meaning "quick", but other usage of Chinese pinyin is at times painfully incorrect, as e.g. zou means "go", but would never be used by Chinese people in that way, as the Chinese imperative form would include the particle "ba" as in zou ba, which would then mean "let's go", but the author should have used (kuai) Pao in that particular context to mean "let's get out of here!".
There are various other inconsistencies and sometimes the author creates confusion. The use of the word "Bohea" as a geographical designation or a more generic term for black tea is not always clear. Rose describes how Robert Fortune discovered that green tea and black tea both come from the same plant, nonetheless in the later part of the book the author keeps confusing readers by relating Fortune's mission to collect both seeds of green tea plants and black tea plants. Although the book includes descriptions of tea utensils and ways of making tea, while referring to different types of tea, the author never explains the differences between for example Da Hong Pao tea and other varieties.
In the final chapters, the author describes the success of British tea grown in India and attributing this success to the endeavors of Robert Fortune. This is historically incorrect as through trial and error, the Indian tea trade is largely based on cultivars which were indigenous to the Indian Himalayas. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica "At first they used seeds from China, but later seeds from the clonal Assam plant were used."
For all the tea in China remains an interesting read as an adventure story, at most.
Show Less
LibraryThing member lukespapa
Combine Wicked Plants, Salt, and Simon Winchester-like writing, and you will come up with a book like For All the Tea in China. This is a entertaining, if quick, read of botanical espionage and tells both how tea became a staple of England social customs and how it fueled the colonializing British
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Empire. By stealing plants and seeds from China and transplanting tea to India, the British shifted the balance of trade, furthered scientific methods along the way, and ultimately altered geopolitical landscapes and economies. It is also a story of the pluck and courage of explorers such as Robert Fortune who disguised himself as a mandarin and was one of the first Europeans to travel in and out of China's interior. Though there are occasional gaps in weaving the narrative, if you are like me and don't have the time or inclination to read more in-depth titles on the subject, then you won't be disappointed. Show Less
LibraryThing member artikaur
This is a well-written, engaging piece of non-fiction. The author manages to convey the story of how the trade secrets of the tea industry were stolen from China and brought to India in a way that did not seem like a stuffy, boring history lecture. Although I generally prefer fiction to
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non-fiction, this was an interesting, well-researched read. Show Less
LibraryThing member Shimmin
This interesting book discussed how a Scottish botanist made his fortune by stealing the secret of tea from Imperial China. A pleasant and well-balanced mixture of biography, historical background, botany, cultural discussion and informed speculation. It's well-judged for a lay audience, fairly
A few reviews I've seen complained of a lack of detail, particularly in terms of Fortune's actual adventures in China, his encounters with the locals and with officialdom, and his views on all he encountered; the problem is, as far as I can see, that there isn't really much Rose could add. The only record of what Fortune did or said is his own book on his travels, since all his papers were destroyed after his death, and it seems to me there is little point Rose simply repeating his words, padding out a perfectly-sized book, when she's already directed us to the source.
I was very impressed with the book, and sad to see it's her only one so far.
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light and easy to read without being fluffy; Rose Touches on the relationship of tea to issues like the opium wars, the end of the EIC and the changes that brought about, health and culture, and economic balance across the Empire. Note that it is based only on company and public records and the writings of others, as none of his own papers survived. Of course, there was the usual guilt stirred up by any book dealing with British history, and anger at some of the injustices that were inflicted.A few reviews I've seen complained of a lack of detail, particularly in terms of Fortune's actual adventures in China, his encounters with the locals and with officialdom, and his views on all he encountered; the problem is, as far as I can see, that there isn't really much Rose could add. The only record of what Fortune did or said is his own book on his travels, since all his papers were destroyed after his death, and it seems to me there is little point Rose simply repeating his words, padding out a perfectly-sized book, when she's already directed us to the source.
I was very impressed with the book, and sad to see it's her only one so far.
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LibraryThing member DramMan
A compelling account of how a Scottish botanist, Robert Fortune, stole the secret of tea cultivation from China, laying the foundation for Indian (and other) tea plantations that were able to undercut and supplant Chinese supply. Not only did he expose the dangerous method of adding iron ferro
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cyanide to the tea leaves, to provide the desired colour to green tea, but he proved that green and black tea are produced from the same species of bush. Then, starting in 1848, Fortune arranged for the transfer of thousands of (notoriously delicate) seedlings from China to India, along with a number of experienced Chinese tea growers, who were able to train Indian workers. Sarah Rose makes best use of somewhat scanty original material (as Fortune’s widow destroyed many of his papers/letters), to highlight Fortune’s tortuous travels, while explaining the geo-political importance of the opium for tea trade and the fundamental changes in trade that resulted from Fortune’s ‘industrial espionage’. Show Less
LibraryThing member ForeignCircus
This could have been a fascinating book about one of the most economically impactful thefts of intellectual property in history, but unfortunately. it was a little too light on details and data to be completely successful. Though I enjoyed reading this book, it left me wanting more- more
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information, more details, more history. As the book itself was fairly short, it could have included more of that missing information to make for a more satisfying read. I expected the details of Fortune's actual adventures in China to dominate the book, and was disappointed that they didn't make up a larger portion of the narrative. Show Less
LibraryThing member kukulaj
A delightful book! The story of Robert Fortune's two trips into the interior of China around 1849, to pilfer tea plants, tea processing tools, and tea farmers. The secret to his success was a bit of innovation in the use of the Ward case, or terrarium.
The story of the East India Company and how
The story of the East India Company and how
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the tea trade changed the world, that has been told before. But the details of Fortune's trips and techniques, that I hadn't read before. Rose kept the story moving and in context well enough that the reader can understand the significance of the details. It's a short book and a quick read - well worth the time! Show Less
LibraryThing member Mae.Sardsara
Pro: I love the idea that an exchange of flowers between empires and botanists changed the course of history. This beverage, along with coffee, is so ubiquitous and woven into the fabric of our daily lives that most of us probably never stop to think about it. Especially not those of us for whom
Con: I spent the entire time I was reading the book wishing I had scones and clotted cream at hand.
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interest in it stopped right around the time some Bostonians got fed up and tossed it overboard into the harbor. But the story told here is fascinating. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. A good jumping off point to explore further topics like the Opium Wars, how industrialization in England led to such a fascination with growing thingsCon: I spent the entire time I was reading the book wishing I had scones and clotted cream at hand.
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LibraryThing member stuart10er
Very interesting outline of the 2nd voyage of Robert Fortune into China to basically steal Tea plants and experts and bring them to India to raise Tea there. Britain was selling Opium to the Chinese and buying Tea - but they could raise Tea in India if they only knew how and had the plants. So,
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Fortune snuck in there for 3 years and stole the plants, the secrets, and the people. Changed a lot of things because of increased amount of cheaper tea. Show Less
LibraryThing member SweetbriarPoet
This book includes history, science, folklore, and everything someone could want in a good nonfiction book. I will say, Rose probably takes some license with the narrative story, but, in the interest of entertainment, it works. I especially love the descriptions of the East India Company and their
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influence in India: I guess I never understood how much power they actually possessed. I also liked this book because I love tea, and this story gives it all the glory it deserves! Show Less
LibraryThing member havetea
It is a fancinating historical work about how the East India Company flexes their muscle with China and commissions Robert Fortune (a botanist of poor social standing amongst the Brittish Social Elite) to smuggle precious tea plants out of the interior of China where no occidental has been before.
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The goal to control the largest commodity in British History. He endures great risk and many obstacles but in the end obviously successful. Good flow and pace to the story. Show Less
LibraryThing member hemlokgang
Just not interesting to me.
LibraryThing member Teufle
A 19th century 'adventure' tale about a man's contracted journey into the Chinese hinterlands in search of Tea and the information necessary to cultivate it. This story covers a lot about Botany, Opium, the age of Empire, and is a must read for individuals interested in the unique corners of
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history. Show Less
LibraryThing member NatalieSW
Fun read about the life and work of a fascinating historical character. Interesting also to observe (not for the first time) how an ethically negative goal (theft) is achieved with otherwise admirable bravery, persistence, adaptability, and even some nobility. No footnotes or index; it would have
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been nice to have at least the latter, but it's not a huge issue, since, as the author says, it's a popular history, not an academic text. Very enjoyable. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mrs_McGreevy
China controlled tea. Britain controlled opium. For 200 years, they traded. But when China threatened to grow its own opium, Britain decided to perpetrate perhaps the greatest incident of industrial espionage ever, sending one man to bring back the secrets of the tea plant and how to cultivate it.
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A fascinating story, & the arguments Rose makes for the worldwide impact of this one event are persuasive. Show Less
LibraryThing member Cat-Lib
An excellent history of one man's amazing adventures in China. Very readable.
LibraryThing member nossanna
I loved this book! It touches on many of my interests- intellectual property, biology, China and tea. A fascinating sorry of the greatest intellectual property theft in history, stealing the tea plant from China to grow in India.
LibraryThing member memccauley6
This is the fascinating true story of how Englishman Robert Fortune committed the greatest industrial espionage in history. This intrepid botanist disguised himself as a native and stole tea plants and seeds from China at the behest of the British East India Company.
Serious historians will no doubt
Serious historians will no doubt
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find fault with author Sarah Rose's many brief digressions to give historical context, but I found it just enough to fill my curiosity. (And her dry wit was hilarious) Most importantly, she details varieties of tea, their origins, and how tea is processed. I am a big tea drinker, but knew nothing about it, so found it all extremely fascinating. Full of obscure historical tidbits that any reader of Mental Floss magazine will love. Show Less
LibraryThing member yhgail
I stopped reading this. I will find another book about the history of tea.
Awards
Booklist Editor's Choice: Adult Books (Social Sciences — 2010)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2009
Physical description
272 p.; 5.75 inches
ISBN
0670021520 / 9780670021529