STEEPSTER BOOK CLUB: For All the Tea in China, Week FOUR Discussion HERE!

I am reading but am a few weeks behind the discussion and doubt I’ll be finished in time for the author chat.

I just saw this link on Victoriana magazine’s website and had to share! There is some god info and images of Victorian Wardian cases/terrariums for home display of ferns, and exotic plants. There’s also a link at the end to a site that sells an impressive array of modern-day ones!

http://www.victoriana.com/victoriangarden/wardian_cases.html

With regard to the last two questions, the East India Company seems pretty unique in that it operated more like a nation than a business, raising armies and such. But its strength seemed to lie in its monopoly status. When it lost that status, it couldn’t compete effectively because as a monopoly it hadn’t had to. On the IP issues, do we know for a fact there wasn’t a scandal? If there wasn’t, it was probably because of a number of factors. First, news didn’t travel as fast in those days. It apparently wasn’t until the tea making in India became successful years later that the Chinese even discovered what had happened. Second, language barriers were steeper. Third, the aggrieved party was the Chinese government, and English speaking newspapers would have had to have been interested in breaking the story from the Chinese perspective. Fourth, the English didn’t seem to perceive it as stealing. They paid a lot of money to send Fortune there at great risk to his personal safety, and to ship back the plants. Once he was in the interior, no one seemed very interested in keeping him from taking the plants. The tea makers who left to go to India also didn’t seem to view this as stealing, but rather as an opportunity for economic gain.

1. change can’t be undone, the faster ships and moving of tea changed the world, it just kept plucking forward. I felt bad the US stiffed him on starting up tea in the south though :(

2. Plants brought in tons of money! i wonder how much the world would have changed if the scientists hadn’t had the time and desire to study botany as they did (the money of course coming from prior plant finds)

4. Apparently they couldn’t’ live without it! I am amazed it counted as their calories, and invigorating the workforce. I always knew boiling your water was good for you, but that brings up the point hot unflavored water is not appetizing.

and off to sleep, tackle more in the AM

I just finished this book and my train ride home from work and loved it. It really is amazing how much one plant changed world history. I wonder if the Bigelow plantation has any that were grown from Fortune’s seeds?

I notice that not many of us are responding to this final week of discussion. If you are like me, you don’t want it to end. The adventure was exciting and I could not wait to see what happened next!
I loved this book. History and all. I agree with HorseNcl about how amazing that a simple Camellia sinensis plant could cause such an impact on history. Now, when I drink tea I am thankful that Fortune was the adventurous type. Most people would not have wanted to do something so dangerous!

I bet people are just getting behind in the reading. That would explain the fewer responses……

One other point- comparing the tea/East India history to modern times. Tea was a convenient food beverage source for the Brits (boiled water fewer contaminants, milk and sugar are calories and preferable to beer). And now, we have that high fructose corn syrup – corn is plentiful in US ,sooo let’s spike the food w/it.

this book was wonderful, it didn’t seen like non-fiction at all

I was continually amazed at how fast things change (as shipping got faster so did plant theft) and how many things i assumed started in Britain were really from China.

I honestly think each chapter contained a new bit of history or connections i had never known about, like tea in the US!

amazing how one little plant can influence so many people and things, it also points out how in a few scant years all that happened could not happen again – how technology changes things permanently!

Good morning all!

First off, I have to thank you all for reading my book and for your many kind comments. This is really one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had with FOR ALL THE TEA IN CHINA – to lurk here while you read and to see what was going on as you got through the book. I’ve learned a lot – and made notes for the paperback!

Things that have popped up — the Chinese didn’t write the history, the Brits did. This is so true. I tried hard to give voice to the voiceless, to weigh in on how the Chinese side of the equation felt about Fortune, the West, and the tea theft. But I know in the end it’s not a wholly balanced look. In no small part, the majority of the documents are from the British side since little from late Qing survived the Nationalist and Communist revolutions.

The link between cheap calories – milk and sugar in tea vs. high fructose corn sugar. BRILLIANT! I’m using that in my next talk!

The Bigelow plantation in SC — I knew about this vaguely when I was researching and it’s come to the forefront of discussions since the US release. Only a DNA test could tell if these were the daughter plants of Fortune’s theft. But it’s an exciting thought.

So I’ll be here for the next two days, load me up with questions. I’ve loved being a silent witness and am eager to engage your questions and comments.

All best,

Sarah