When Britain’s characteristic greed encountered China’s handsome holdings of tea, both polities acted predictably. Britain coveted China’s tea and China safeguarded its treasure, but the multi-faceted nature of that struggle was no less byzantine than why Britons eat toast sandwiches (seriously search up “toast sandwich,” it’s the strangest thing you’ll see this week). To the …
William Almack’s journal of his odyssey in China amid the dawn of the First Opium War doubly elevates and confounds my understanding of the era’s milieu. Almack addresses the dynamic between British traders and Chinese officials by emphasizing each party’s misgivings towards the other. Britain’s skepticism of China inheres in the latter’s sufferance to the …
British fondness for tea has been well elucidated for the past four centuries. Tom Standage’s A History of the World in 6 Glasses broadly addresses the English tea trade since its inception from a modern perspective. It is a tertiary source, meaning it is a compilation of primary and secondary sources intended for unfamiliar readers. …
Continue reading “A History of the World in 6 Glasses vs. Robert Fortune: Tea Thief”
As it so happened, the weeding did constitute a trilogy. Joining me in the garden today were two FYS students and a Garden Club secretary, each of them partitioning their time between harvesting carrots and weeding with me. Upon introspection, I now realize I cannot separate the odium from each breath I use to say …
