Tea and China’s rise: tea, nationalism and culture in the 21st century

Abstract

Tea has played a prominent role in Chinese history and in China's relations with foreign cultures near and far. It was a luxury product, along with porcelain and silk, that defined Chinese civilisation and was eagerly sought after by all peoples who acquired a taste for its stimulating brew. Tea was also pivotal in the 'opening' of China to the modern world through the first Opium War (Sigmond, in Tea its effects, medicinal and moral, 1839-1842). We tend to only focus on the 'opium' side of the equation forgetting that it was the desire to acquire large quantities of tea that brought the British and other Western nations to the shores of China in the first place. In the 21st Century, as China is on track to become the world's largest economy and reshape the global order in ways that are still difficult for Westerners to comprehend, tea and tea culture is being 'rediscovered' and 'redeployed' within China as a means of reinforcing a sense of unique Chinese identity and national character. In this paper I further explore the place of tea in Chinese and world history. I conclude by examining the rise of Chinese tea nationalism and consider how tea is shaping Chinese identity in the 21st Century.

Coumaroyl Flavonol Glycosides and More in Marketed Green Teas: An Intrinsic Value beyond Much-Lauded Catechins

“…Compound 35, identified as epiafzelechin gallate, preferentially lost the dehydrated gallic acid residue, providing the ion at m/z 273.0777 as the base peak ( Figure S5). The relative abundance of the fragment ion at m/z 183.0308 (1) and the presence of the radical ion at m/z 168.0070 suggested for compounds 23 and 34 the occurrence of a methyl gallate bonded through ester bond to the alcoholic function in C-3 of epigallocatechin and epicatechin, respectively. All identified catechins are common to the extracts prepared with the exception of the metabolite 15, which was detected only in the TeaGNP and TeaCEC samples.…”

“…It has always played a leading role in Chinese history and in China's relations with near and far foreign cultures. It has long been considered a luxury product, highly sought after by all the people who acquired its stimulating taste [1]. The growing popularity of this beverage with valuable medicinal properties quickly spread to other East Asian cultures, especially Japan.…”

Food defence: Refining the taxonomy of food defence threats

“…Therefore the East India Co. employed a botanist, Robert Fortune, to visit China and to smuggle materials and obtain the information on growing tea plants and the making/processing of tea (Fortune, 1852;Budiono, & Sawitri, 2017). Sigley (2015) explores this case in more detail: " [Fortune] was given the task of travelling to China, and in particular to the tea growing regions of Fujian and Anhui, to collect tea seeds and live tea seedlings and transport them back to India. He was also directed to obtain as much knowledge about the tea production process as possible.…”

Proposal of a New Green Process for Waste Valorization and Cascade Utilization of Essential Oil Plants

“…The positive properties of herbal ingredients have been used by people for centuries [1]. The areas of application range from nutrition to cosmetics, and care products to medical applications.…”