Tea Advisor
Aspects of Tea Production
Following the revision of its charter in 1834, the East India Company's monopoly of trade between China and Britain had come to an end. Simultaneously, there were doubts in Britain as to the reliability of Chinese exports, particularly as Japan had recently severed all trade with the West. It was therefore natural that the British, through the East India Company, should consider growing tea in India.
In 1793 Lord Macartney had been sent by the British government on a mission to Peking. Macartney was determined to be treated as an emissary of an equal sate, but the Chinese had other ideas. They inscribed his barges with characters reading "envoy bearing tribute." When he arrived he was expected to perform the "kowtow," which involved kneeling three times before the Emperor, and each time touching the floor three times with the face. Macartney would only do this if in return the Emperor would perform the kowtow to a portrait Macartney was carrying of the British king, George III. This the Chinese Emperor refused to do, and permission was refused for Macartney to become resident ambassador in Peking. The two did exchange present, however, and Lord Macartney was allowed to take away some tea seeds and plants.
In crossing into Kiangsi we passed through tea plantations and were allowed by the Viceroy to take up several tea plants in a growing state with very large balls of earth adhering to them, which plants I flatter myself, I shall be able to transmit to Bengal.
Tea | By Roy Moxham
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