Virginie Girod SEASON 2023 - 2024 05:00, February 8, 2024
The English love tea, but did you know that the British Empire went so far as to steal the secret of the drink from the Chinese empire? In the 19th century, English botanist Robert Fortune was sent on a mission to China to steal tea plants and plant crops in the British colonies in India. In a new story, Virginie Girod tells you this exotic spy story.
China and Britain have been trading since the 17th century. British economic liberalism, however, clashed with Chinese protectionism, which held a monopoly on the tea trade. The Middle Kingdom, which is very vast, is also very closed and considers itself self-sufficient. Also, English traders import ever larger quantities of tea but they have nothing to sell in exchange and do not like being dependent on a foreign power.
The Tea Committee, responsible for establishing tea in the British Indian colonies, then turned to the botanist Robert Fortune, who had already visited China. He will have to return to the country and bring back the best tea plants, as well as manufacturing secrets. Real industrial espionage!
In 1848, Robert Fortune left Southampton for China. Apart from Jesuit missionaries, no one before Robert Fortune went this far west of China, where tea grows. Westerners are not welcome in the Middle Kingdom, so the botanist decides to wear Chinese clothes and wear Chinese hair: a long braid as a sign of submission to the emperor. As he advances, he sends seeds and plants across the Himalayas. But the hardest part remains convincing the Chinese to follow him to India to take care of the crops he is planting there. It is estimated that 20,000 plants were introduced by Fortune. The Chinese monopoly is broken, tea grown in India will conquer the British market.
Topics covered: tea, British empire, Chinese empire, trade
“At the heart of history” is a Europe 1 Studio podcast
- Presentation: Virginie Girod
- Production: Caroline Garnier and Camille Bichler
- Director: Nicolas Gaspard
- Composition of the original music: Julien Tharaud
- Writing and Distribution: Nathan Laporte
- Communication: Marie Corpet
- Visual: Sidonie Mangin
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Sources
https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k56074675/f133.item
https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol1/QQLA/TC-QQLA-26056.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwWQua-ragw
https://www.geo.fr/voyage/video-guerre-du-the-comment-la-chine-a-reconquis-la-place-de-premier-producteur-mondial-192024
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