Harvesting Mountains: Fujian and the China Tea Trade, 1757-1937

xiv, 259 pp. Few commodities are as synonymous with any civilization as tea with China. Robert Gardella's book analyzes the multifaceted influence of tea production and the tea trade upon Fujian, a premier tea-growing region, illuminating the economic, social, fiscal, and environmental ramifications of China's involvement with a dynamic world economy. Today, as contemporary China increasingly opens up to foreign trade, the historical experience documented here takes on a renewed importance.