Chinese tea industry and trade in the 19th century: from monopoly to decline

Abstract

Tea played an important role in the current world. China was the birth place of tea and made tea become worldwide between the 18th and 19th centuries. However, after min-19th century, China exported less to Britain and she lost her monopoly position in the global tea market gradually. Finally, Chinese tea industry went into decline and disruption.
The objective of this dissertation is to illuminate the process through which the Chinese tea trade monopoly was destroyed. The reasons why Chinese tea industry and tea trade went into decline and disruption in the 19th century have to do with the Britain-China social-economic relationship. To begin with, the introduction will provide some information about this dissertation, such as research questions, research method and literature review.
Subsequently, the third chapter gives a general background of tea trade between Britain and China, by which to explain when and how tea was imported from China by British merchants. The fourth chapter mainly explores the tea and opium trade within Anglo-China relationship in the 19th century. The final chapter mainly discussed India's strength in tea production and selling thus explaining the reason why Chinese tea industry declined.