Tea

Question 1

The emergence of tea as a global commodity - originally from…, got to…, remained specific to… until…, has…. substances

Answer 1

originally from China, got to Japan, remained specific to east Asia until the colonial trading of tea to europe and other places picked up, has psychoactive substances

Question 2

Tea manufacturing in India, Assam started in… as… and developed into…

Answer 2

Tea manufacturing in India, Assam started in the late 1830s as an experiment and developed into a major agroindustry by the end of the 19th century, making this region as the leading global exporter of the commodity

Question 3

Problems in the beginning of the Tea plantation and manufacturing in Assam…

Answer 3

1. taste –> lack of knowledge on cultivation process
2. transportation (hilly region - difficult to build railways)

Question 4

Labour in tea manufactoring

Answer 4

• very labour intense commodity
• needs to be handpicked in a region that was very little populated

chinese workers were brought to this region

Question 5

Working conditions of tea workers

Answer 5

a new form of slavery?

• harsh working conditions
• shortage of food
• epidemics and diseases
• flogging, confinement
• high mortality rate
• sexual violence

Question 6

Harsh working conditions and circumstances of the living of the workers show in:

Answer 6

• Kwashiorkor (rice belly) - comming from malnutrituion –> bloading of belly

Question 7

“legal conditions” of tea labourers

Answer 7

Workers signed contracts and then “got soled” to different plantation owners

Question 8

End of Indentured labour in Assam

Answer 8

Between 1908 and 1926

Question 9

What is “Indentured labour”?

Answer 9

= “temporary/new slavery”
. - people signed working contracts - but then it then they were pretty much coerced into labour, weren’t able to move and worked under very bad conditions

Question 10

Why was it of interest to start the tea cultivation in India for the British?

Answer 10

To diversify the sources for import of tea, next to China, which was not under direct colonial rule and therefore “less reliable”

Question 11

What was crucial for the tea production in Assam?

Answer 11

private merchants

because their infrastructure was crucial to bring chinese labourers to Assam for example - the state run project was completly reliant on the Opium distribution network of private companys and their investments from money gained through opium smuggling

Question 12

what was the main problem at the start of the tea production in India?

Answer 12

Lacking of skills, knowledge and experience for the mass production of tea
- monopoly for tea mass production lies in China and was based on a monopoly of knowledge

Question 13

What “racial stereotypes”, where drawn from the tea production process?

Answer 13

Chinese superiority
- the lack of pre-existing tea production in India was interpreted by colonial observers as an indictment of indian civilization more generally
- “conclusion” on the “character” of the workers - racial stereotypes of chinese labourers as good and superior to the “lazy” workers from Assam

Question 14

What was the main problem with the Tea Trade?

Answer 14

Its profitability was contingent on the illegal importation of Opium to China by private merchants