The spreading of tea in the world

The spreading of tea in the worldChina was honored as “home country of tea” in the world. Tea was one of mediums to integrate China civilization and other civilizations, as tea is introduced from China into other nations. According to statistics:  currently there are 58 countries producing tea.

Tea- Horse Road

An old trail winds among the mountains in southwest China, which was stamped by mule and human. For thousands of years, the caravan passed here in droves, selling tea to other peoples. That is the mysterious Tea-Horse Road.

Tea-Horse Road dating from Tang and Song Dynasty “Market of Tea and Horse”, where Han people and other minorities traded horses and tea. The minorities live in the cold places, where people mainly fed on milk and meat, so they needed tea to help digest the fat. There tea could not be planted, meanwhile, Han people needed horses for work and war, so the trade developed quickly, and a trade route for people to transport tea and horses gradually came into being.

Tea-Horse Road was a large transportation network, and there are two main lines. The first line was from Yunnan’s Simao, Pu’er and other places of departure, to the north by Dali, Lijiang, Zhongdian, Deqin to Tibet Banda, Qamdo, Lhorong, Nyingchi, Lhasa and then through Gryantse, Yadong to Myanmar, Nepal, India; the second line was from Sichuan Ya’an starting from the west by Luding, Kangding, Batang, Qamdo to Lhasa, and then to Nepal, India. Their starting points were places rich in tea, and along the main line numerous branches extended a huge network closely linking Yunnan-Sichuan Tibet Triangle region.

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The global spreading of tea culture

Dutch traded tea from Macao China to Indonesia in 1606. The next year, they bought tea directly from China. Since then, people in Britain and French began to drink tea. Dutch sold tea to the North America in 1650. In the whole 19^thcentury, China had been a tea provider to the world. Tea spread throughout the world.

Ways of transmission

The first is to send envoys to other countries with tea as gifts.

The second is through monks who studied Buddhism, and the envoys of Tang Dynasty to take tea to their home countries.

The third is through the ancient trade route, such as the Tea- Horse Road, etc, and international trade to sell tea abroad.

Transmission Lines of Tea Culture

By Land

Taking Hebei and Shanxi as the center, the tea passed the Great Wall, through Mongolia, across Russia and Siberia, to Europe.

By sea

Zheng He’s seven voyages in Ming Dynasty, from Vietnam, India, Sri Lanka, Arabian Peninsula, and finally to the east coast of Africa.