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A Journey to the Tea Countries of China
“We have rarely met with any book of travels which so entirely won our confidence.” —Athenaum
“Lively and picturesque ... his remarks evince shrewdness and good sense.” —The Westminster Review
"The value and interest of these books are very great." —Quarterly Review
Robert Fortune (1812 –1880) was a Scottish botanist, plant hunter and traveller, best known for disguising himself as Chinese royalty, traveling the tea country, and stealing tea plants and tea processing experts from China on behalf of the British East India Company. Fortune wrote of these adventures in his 1852 book “A Journey to the Tea Countries of China.”
The British had ascertained that the tea plants, introduced into India in 1835, were not of the variety most approved in China. To remedy this, Robert Fortune was deputed by the Court of Directors, in 1848, to visit China, and to obtain there the best varieties of tea, implements of manufacture, and good tea-makers.
Fortune was most successful. "As the result of this mission," we use his own words, "nearly 20,000 plants from the best black and green tea countries of Central China have been introduced to the Himalayas. Six first-rate manufacturers, two leadmen, and a large supply of implements from the celebrated Hwuychow districts, were also brought round, and safely located on the Government plantations in the hills."
Fortune first went to China in 1843 to collect botanical specimens for the Horticultural Society of London. He returned to this country in 1846, but again revisited the Celestial Empire in 1848, having been commissioned by the East India Directors to procure tea-plants and tea-makers for their plantations in the Himalayas. His instructions fulfilled, he came back to England in 1851, and was once more despatched in 1852 to secure an additional stock of plants and workmen. He remained with this object till 1856, at which period he had spent altogether nearly nine years among the people of China.
The importance of tea at this time in history cannot be understated, as Fortune relates:
"In these days, when tea has become almost a necessary of life to England and her wide-spreading colonies, its production upon a large and cheap scale is an object of no ordinary importance. ... One scarcely conceive the idea of the Chinese Empire existing, were it deprived of the tea plant.”
The sphere of Fortune's observation was as varied as it was prolonged. Instead of confining himself to the districts to which foreigners are limited by treaty, he advanced boldly into the interior. In one of his journeys he went habited like the natives, lived with them as one of themselves, and saw them free from every species of restraint.
Where the prejudices of this vainglorious ecclesiastic do not intervene, his account of Chinese customs is usually exact. From the outset of his journey he wore, to the horror of the mandarins, the red girdle and yellow hat which are the attributes of royalty, and in which no subject is permitted to appear under pain of perpetual exile. Dressed as an emperor, he assumed imperial authority. A solitary and obnoxious foreigner, he bearded officials of towns and provinces; and everywhere these jealous and conceited functionaries changed their nature in his presence, and in the heart of their own country tremblingly obeyed the lordly commands of the majestic M. Hue.
Fortune dwells upon the importance of preserving good humour when surrounded by Chinese. Laugh and joke with them, he says, and all will go well, but once lose your temper, and you will probably be hooted and pelted with stones.
“Lively and picturesque ... his remarks evince shrewdness and good sense.” —The Westminster Review
"The value and interest of these books are very great." —Quarterly Review
Robert Fortune (1812 –1880) was a Scottish botanist, plant hunter and traveller, best known for disguising himself as Chinese royalty, traveling the tea country, and stealing tea plants and tea processing experts from China on behalf of the British East India Company. Fortune wrote of these adventures in his 1852 book “A Journey to the Tea Countries of China.”
The British had ascertained that the tea plants, introduced into India in 1835, were not of the variety most approved in China. To remedy this, Robert Fortune was deputed by the Court of Directors, in 1848, to visit China, and to obtain there the best varieties of tea, implements of manufacture, and good tea-makers.
Fortune was most successful. "As the result of this mission," we use his own words, "nearly 20,000 plants from the best black and green tea countries of Central China have been introduced to the Himalayas. Six first-rate manufacturers, two leadmen, and a large supply of implements from the celebrated Hwuychow districts, were also brought round, and safely located on the Government plantations in the hills."
Fortune first went to China in 1843 to collect botanical specimens for the Horticultural Society of London. He returned to this country in 1846, but again revisited the Celestial Empire in 1848, having been commissioned by the East India Directors to procure tea-plants and tea-makers for their plantations in the Himalayas. His instructions fulfilled, he came back to England in 1851, and was once more despatched in 1852 to secure an additional stock of plants and workmen. He remained with this object till 1856, at which period he had spent altogether nearly nine years among the people of China.
The importance of tea at this time in history cannot be understated, as Fortune relates:
"In these days, when tea has become almost a necessary of life to England and her wide-spreading colonies, its production upon a large and cheap scale is an object of no ordinary importance. ... One scarcely conceive the idea of the Chinese Empire existing, were it deprived of the tea plant.”
The sphere of Fortune's observation was as varied as it was prolonged. Instead of confining himself to the districts to which foreigners are limited by treaty, he advanced boldly into the interior. In one of his journeys he went habited like the natives, lived with them as one of themselves, and saw them free from every species of restraint.
Where the prejudices of this vainglorious ecclesiastic do not intervene, his account of Chinese customs is usually exact. From the outset of his journey he wore, to the horror of the mandarins, the red girdle and yellow hat which are the attributes of royalty, and in which no subject is permitted to appear under pain of perpetual exile. Dressed as an emperor, he assumed imperial authority. A solitary and obnoxious foreigner, he bearded officials of towns and provinces; and everywhere these jealous and conceited functionaries changed their nature in his presence, and in the heart of their own country tremblingly obeyed the lordly commands of the majestic M. Hue.
Fortune dwells upon the importance of preserving good humour when surrounded by Chinese. Laugh and joke with them, he says, and all will go well, but once lose your temper, and you will probably be hooted and pelted with stones.
243 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 8, 2020
As a primary source from 1852--a Scottish botanist encountering Chinese garden practice and plants--this is first rate. The politics behind it are difficult to comes to terms with, though. Fortune was in China intermittently for more than 9 years mostly in the capacity to steal native Chinese tea plants, tea processing information, and tea growing experts and export them to to British-controlled India, where tea would be propagated for the empire in quality and quantities never before known.
Fortune's descriptions of flowers and gardens and Chinese customs are useful, but beware the imperialist gaze!
Fortune's descriptions of flowers and gardens and Chinese customs are useful, but beware the imperialist gaze!
August 8, 2020
Robert Fortune's account of his time in China acquiring tea plants to send to India using Wardian cases (terrariums) and providing a unique perspective as a traveler disguised as an official in a time when foreigners movement in China was limited. Can sometimes be confusing to keep up with names as things have changed over time and there is a possibility that Fortune exaggerated some of his adventures. Still, a valuable resource for those interested in the history of tea's spread beyond China, British colonialism and trade, and British-Chinese cultural economic exchange. May aid in understanding some of the attitudes held by the British at the time and their understanding of Asia.
August 7, 2019
Entertaining and interesting read for gardeners and plant lovers in general. The undertaking of procuring tea seeds/plants by botanist Robert Fortune in the mid-1800's was full of eye-opening information on the growing, harvesting, and manufacture of tea. At times it did feel a bit monotonous with the continuous collection of tea plants, but the enchanting descriptions of out-of-the-way places and a few hilarious moments with the locals happily breaks the mood.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews