OUINA TKA 61 



CHAPTER XI 



CHINA TEA 



In China, wo do not find oxtonsivo plantations, owned 

 by a Company, and workctl by a inanagfr-reprfsenta- 

 tivo who controls a largo army of labourers. Instead, 

 there is a large army of peaaant proprietors, each of 

 whom runs a tea farm, of about four to five acres in size, 

 as a means of liveliliood for himself antl family. 



The principal districts in which tea farming is carried 

 on are the eastern province of Chckiang. Kiangsi, and 

 Fukien ; round and about Hankow and Canton ; and 

 the south-western province of Yunnan, 



The method of cultivation and the process of manu- 

 facture are old-fashioned, having been handed down 

 from generation to generation. 



We have come to the north-eastorn neighbourhood, 

 where is proiluced a large proportion of the green and 

 black China teas for foreign markets. We have just 

 landed at Hangchow, the capital of the province of 

 Chekiang, and, following the programme I have drawn 

 up for our wander-tour in the Celestial Empire, we shall 

 linger awhile in Chekiang, visiting various tea farms in 

 this locality ; next go by steamer to Foochow, whence 

 we can make our way into the rich, tea-growing 

 province of Fukien; amd afterwards take a trip up the 

 Yangtao to the river-ports of Kiukiang and Hankow. 



The time of year being early May, the harvest 

 season is in full swing in t hv grc<>n tea-lands of Chekiang. 

 Fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, little children, and 

 oil able-bodied grown-ups, are busy gathering in the 



