| Description |
x, 261 pages ; 22 cm |
| Note |
Originally published : London : Hutchinson, 2009, with title For all the tea in China : espionage, empire, and the secret formula for the world's favourite drink. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [251]-254) and index. |
| Contents |
Prologue -- Min River, China, 1845 -- East India House, City of London, January 12, 1848 -- Chelsea Physic Garden, May 7, 1848 -- Shanghai to Hangzhou, September 1848 -- Zhejiang Province near Hangzhou, October 1848 -- A green tea factory, Yangtze River, October 1848 -- House of Wang, Anhui Province, November 1848 -- Shanghai at the Lunar New Year, January 1849 -- Calcutta Botanic Garden, March 1849 -- Saharunpur, North-West Provinces, June 1849 -- Ningbo to Bohea, the Great Tea Road, May and June 1849 -- Bohea, July 1849 -- Pucheng, September 1849 -- Shanghai, Autumn 1849 -- Shanghai, February 1851 -- Himalayan Mountains, May 1851 -- Royal Small Arms Factory, Enfield Lock, 1852 -- Tea for the Victorians -- Fortune's story. |
| Summary |
Through the adventures of Robert Fortune, a nineteenth-century plant hunter, the reader learns a delicious brew of information on the history of tea cultivation and consumption in the Western world. Rose?s book is certain to draw the attention of history buffs, foodies, avid travel-literature fans, followers of popular science, and perhaps even business-interest book consumers as she reconstructs what she posits as the "greatest theft of trade secrets in the history of mankind." Tea was grown in China. Great Britain wanted tea. But trying to trade with the Celestial Empire was like pulling teeth. So the East India Company sent hunter Fortune, undercover (dressed in mandarin robes), to penetrate the depths of China and surreptitiously gather -- steal, in other words -- seeds and young plants and send them to India, where they would flourish in soil that was part of the British Empire. The author's bold conclusion to this remarkably riveting tale is that Fortune's "actions would today be described as industrial espionage," but nevertheless he "changed the fate of nations"--Booklist. |
| Subject |
Tea trade -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.
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Tea trade -- China -- History -- 19th century.
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Tea -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.
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Tea -- China -- History -- 19th century.
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Fortune, Robert, 1813-1880 -- Travel -- China.
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Spies -- Great Britain -- Biography.
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Business intelligence -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century.
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East India Company -- History -- 19th century.
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China -- Description and travel.
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Himalaya Mountains -- Description and travel.
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| ISBN |
9780670021529 |
|
0670021520 |
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