Page:Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and other Treaty Ports of China.djvu/305

TWENTIETH CENTURY IMPRESSIONS OF HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, ETC. 297 as gypsum is not a dangerous or irritating substance, "being constantly eaten by the Chinese," and forms the bulk of the preparation, the remaining ingredient does not count for much. And, curiously enough, it is just that scum from the gypsum which rises on infusion of the tea, quite innocuous, which so exercises the minds of the American food inspectors, whose illogical action is the cause of so much embarrassment to shippers of green tea to the States to-day. For even the choicest gunpowders are "shut out" from the American markets with the same airy nonchalance as would be the rankest, most highly faced Twan-kay. Nor does this inspection law extend only to green teas. All black teas must be up to a certain standard or they will not be admitted into the States. But there is nothing fixed about that standard, which seems to be lowered or raised annually at the caprice of the Inspection Board, and, moreover, it is very uncertain in its application; for it is on record that counterparts of teas that have been unhesitatingly admitted into America have been as ruthlessly rejected. The one taken, the other left, and yet one and the same tea. And here again the choicest black teas are not always exempt from suspicion and rejection, for it is a matter of common knowledge that "when the inspection law was first enacted in the United States of America the first inspector appointed to New York City thought fit to reject as unfit for consumption a small shipment of part of the very choicest Souchong produced, on the ground that the flavour was foreign to tea, and, consequently, that the tea was inadmissible under the standards of purity approved by the New York Tea Board." But it would seem that the reign of coloured green teas was approaching its end. Five of the health commissioners appointed by the authorities at Washington, whose function it is to put an end to adulteration of any kind, have taken up amongst others, the question of green tea adulteration, and two of the five, two years ago, voted against any further importations of "faced" tea. Possibly some definite action in this connection will be taken under the new Presidential regime. It is not possible to gauge with any great certainty the volume of the brick tea business, but its known proportions are enormous. The rich province of Szechwan, in the far west of China, furnishes an abundance of good tea, which is exported overland to Siberia. This brick tea is cured by pressing the damp leaves in a mould into the form of a brick or tile, 8 to 12 inches long and about 1 inch thick. The brick tea for Thibet is composed of the coarsest leaves, and of stalks moistened by steaming over boiling water, and then wedged into a mould until dry and hard; the pressing and drying being assisted by sprinkling the mass with rice water. The foregoing are the native methods of making brick tea, but the brick tea manufactured by certain Russian firms in Koochow, Kiukiang, and Hankow is altogether a superior article. It is not composed so much of leaf as of the fannings that have been separated from the leaf by winnowing, and good strong wholesome dust imported from India and Ceylon. In his report on the foreign trade of China for the year 1906, the commercial attache, Sir Alexander Hosie, writes: "In 1905, India, Ceylon, and Java sent 4,906,800 lbs., mostly dust and sittings, for blending with China teas, principally in the manufacture of brick and tablet tea; in 1906 they sent 8,767,200 lbs., in 1907. 15,000.000 lbs." The bricks which emanate from the Russian factories are hydraulically pressed, into bricks appetisingly faced with British-grown dust, that from Ceylon imparting a rich chocolate colour to the brick, each brick being stamped with a special design or with Chinese chop characters. They are usually packed in bamboo baskets to contain 72 bricks of 2j lbs. each, or 56 bricks of 2j lbs. each. These teas are shipped by steamer to Vladivostock and then disseminated by rail through Mongolia and Siberia. The following figures show the remarkable increase in the export of this article : —

In 1867... 8,441.466 lbs. passed the Customs. In 1886. ..49,361,600 „ In 1907. ..80,563,433 „

Of this quantity, 37} per cent., or 30,020,100 lbs. were green tea dust. How much further this expansion of the brick tea trade will go it is difficult to conjecture. The Trans-Siberian Railway must gradually take away much of the traffic from the old caravan routes, while its feeders will tap new districts. It is well known that the inhabitants of Siberia and Central Asia make a soup of these brick teas, possibly because a drinking infusion of them were wellnigh an impossibility, but it may be that when they become acquainted with leaf tea brought on for distribution by the main railway line and its arteries, there will not be that inclination for the wretched hotch-potch now supplied to them in the commoner brick teas. On the other hand, it is well known that the preparation of brick tea for Thibet is receiving much attention at the hands of Indian planters, who have volun- tarily submitted to a self-imposed tax to be devoted to pushing their productions amongst the Thibetans.

It is significant of the elasticity of the so-called moribund China tea trade how easily the article in any of its forms can be supplied when the demand arises for it. Take tea dust, for instance, which, as has already been shown, continues to be in increasing demand for brick tea. Last year, 1907, the impression obtained that there would be a deficiency more or less marked in supplies of leaf from India and Ceylon, and that the void thus occasioned would bring common China tea and dust for blending purposes into, at least, temporary demand. The demand came, but it came very late in the year, in November in fact, yet China was equal to the occasion. She put upon the London market 3,000,000 lbs. of very common Congou in the space of a couple of months which otherwise had not been exported, and 2,810,933 lbs. of dust, which was 10 per cent, more than the aggregate of the previous year's export. This fact is merely adduced to exhibit China's potentiality in the matter of supplies, and her ability to meet any sudden or extraneous demand for tea.

THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF CHINA TEA.

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of China tea, black and green, but these are subject to very distinct subdivision. The black teas from the North of China are quite distinct and different from the "red" teas of the South. The choicest Northern teas are the Keemuns, which are grown in the

PACKING THE CHESTS.

province of Anhwei, and the Ningchows and Monings from Kiangsi, and represent about one quarter of the total production of the North. But the great bulk comes from the two provinces separated from each other by the Tungting Lake, Hupeh and Hunan. From the first come those teas generally known as Oopacks and named after the particular districts in which they are grown, Sungyangs, Yangloutungs, Tongsans, Ichangs, and Cheongshukais. From the latter the distinctive Oonahm teas, Oanfas. Lilings, Nipkasees, Wunkais, Lowyongs, and Shuntams. Practically all the South China congous are grown in the province of Fokien, and consist principally of Panyongs, Packlums. Souchongs, Soomoos, Suey Kuts, antl a number of minor districts. The most desirable of these are Panyongs, Packlums, Soomoos, and Souchongs, the last named being the favourite teas on the continent of Europe. Russia takes but little tea from the South of China, the water and method of serving making the Northern teas more palatable. Foochow Oolongs have a delicate