Russian Tea Trade in Hankou during Second Half of 19th Century: Production of Brick Tea
https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2023-12-10-512-528
Abstract
This article addresses the issue of producing the socalled “brick tea” in China at Russian factories during the second half of the 19th century. Compressed teas constituted the second largest group after looseleaf teas highlighted in prerevolutionary Russian literature, sources, and statistics among Chinese teas exported to the Russian market. The study explores aspects of brick tea production that have been least covered in previous historiography. These include issues related to the procurement of raw materials for further pressing at Russian factories, pricing strategies for this product, and the accompanying competition. The experience of utilizing hydraulic presses for more efficient tea production, as well as the dynamics and volumes of brick tea production, are examined. The research revealed that in the latter half of the 19th century, Russian entrepreneurs in Hankou successfully organized the process of fabricating pressed teas, thereby contributing to the strengthening and further development of Russo-Chinese relations. Documents from central Russian archives were utilized in this study, enabling the unveiling of many previously unexplored aspects of the history of Russo-Chinese trade.
Supporting agencies: The study was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation, project № 22-78-00050, https://rscf.ru/project/22-78-00050/
About the Authors
I. R. Khamzin
Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ildar R. Khamzin - PhD of History, Associate Professor, Department of Russian History.
Yekaterinburg
R. T. Ganiev
Ural Federal University named after the First President of Russia B.N. Yeltsin
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Rustam T. Ganiev - PhD of History, Associate Professor, Department of Russian History.
Yekaterinburg
References
1. Chu, T. (1936). The trade in Central China. Shanghai: China Institute of Pacific Relations. 359 p.
2. Datsyshen, V. G. (2012). Russians in Hankou: from the history of Russian-Chinese relations of the second half of the XIX — first half of the XX century. (according to archival and book collections of Moscow, Siberia, the Far East and China). In: Russia and China. Scientific and cultural relations (based on materials from archival, handwritten, book and museum collections), 2. St. Petersburg: Alfaret. 67—80. ISBN 978-5-4458-8664-8. (In Russ.).
3. Du, H. (2000). Tea and Hankow market in the Ch’ing period. PhD diss. Wuhan University. Wuhan.
4. Filshin, N. G. (2018). Trade activity of Russian merchants in Hankou. In: Vaganov readings: materials of the IX region. scientific and practical conference dedicated to the 425th anniversary of the city of Tara (Tara, April 5—6, 2018). Omsk: Amphora. 97—103. ISBN 978-5-906985-27-9. (In Russ.).
5. Guo, F. (2010). Tea trade system change of Qing dynasty and government administration. PhD diss. Taiyuan: Shanxi University.
6. Khokhlov, A. N. (2012). Trade and entrepreneurial activity of Russians in China in the second half of the XIX century. Russian History, 3: 144—152. (In Russ.).
7. Khristolyubova, Y. S. (2019). On the question of the existence of Russian tea plantations in China in 1860—1929. Modern scientific thought, 5: 61—67. (In Russ.).
8. Khristolyubova, Y. S. (2019). The formation of the international tea trade market in Hankou in the second half of the XIX century. East. Afro-Asian societies: History and moder-nity, 3: 79—90. DOI: 10.31857/S086919080005240-1. (In Russ.).
9. Liu Ts. (2010). Tea trade between Russia and China. World of Eurasia, 3: 63—75. (In Russ.).
10. Popov, K. A. (1870). About tea and its preparation by Russians in China. Moscow: I. N. Kushnerev Type. 33 p. (In Russ.).
11. Skalkovsky, K. A. (1833). Russian Trade in the Pacific Ocean: an Economic Study of Russian Trade and Navigation in the Primorsky Region, Eastern Siberia, Korea, China, Japan and California. St. Petersburg: A. S. Suvorin Type. 515 p. (In Russ.).
12. Rowe, W. (1989). Hankow: conflict and community in a Chinese city, 1796—1895. Stanford: Stanford university press. 440 p.
13. Sharonova, V. G. (2019). Export-import operations of the Russian-Chinese tea trade (from the middle of the XIX to the beginning of the XX century). In: Siberian merchants: origins, activities, heritage: materials of the Third All—Russian Scientific Conference, Tomsk, September 21—23, 2018. Tomsk: Publishing House TSASU. 241—250. (In Russ.).
14. Sharonova, V. G. Russian trading houses and factories in the southern provinces of China — outposts of the Russian-Chinese tea trade (1870 — the first decade of the XX century). China in world and regional politics. History and modernity, 24: 401—415. DOI: 10.24411/2618-6888-2019-10023. (In Russ.).
15. Sharonova, V. G. (2017). Tea products in Russian-Chinese trade at the turn of the XIX—XX centuries. In: Tsybik tea history. Essays on the history of the Russian-Chinese tea trade. Moscow; St. Petersburg: Center for Humanitarian Initiatives. 11—27. ISBN 978-5-98712-809-1. (In Russ.).
16. Skalkovsky, K. A. (1883). Russian trade in the Pacific Ocean: an economic study of Russian trade and navigation in the Primorsky Region, Eastern Siberia, Korea, China, Japan and California. St. Petersburg: A. S. Suvorin Type. 515 p. (In Russ.).
17. Sladkovsky, M. I. (1974). The history of trade and economic relations between the peoples of Russia and China (before 1917). Moscow: Nauka. 363 p. (In Russ.).
18. Sokolov, I. A. (2011). Tea and tea trade in Russia: 1790—1919. Moscow: Sputnik +. 493 p. — ISBN 978-5-9973-1639-6. (In Russ.).
19. Subbotin, A. P. (1892). Tea and tea trade in Russia and other countries: production, con-sumption and distribution of tea. St. Petersburg: A. G. Kuznetsov. 706 p. (In Russ.).
20. The pavilion of the Kyakhtin merchant class. (1896). St. Petersburg: Commeresky cursive printing press. Eugenia Thiele. 69 p. (In Russ.).
21. Yoder, A. J. (2016). Tea time in Romanov Russia: a cultural history, 1616—1917. PhD diss. The University of North Carolina. Chapel Hill. 358 p.
Review
For citations:
Khamzin I.R., Ganiev R.T. Russian Tea Trade in Hankou during Second Half of 19th Century: Production of Brick Tea. Nauchnyi dialog. 2023;12(10):512-528. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24224/2227-1295-2023-12-10-512-528
Views:
304
Email this article 