CAROLINE WRIGHT-NEVILLE h GUIDE STUDY ISSUE 29 AUSTRALIAN

SCREEN EDUCATION

1 6. The Medicinal Properties of 7. Food and Festivals

BEFORE YOU WATCH

Discuss these general questions:

• What do you think of when you drink tea from cups? • How do you and your friends make a cup of tea? • Make a list of Australian native plants and non-native plants you have in your garden. • How did the non-native plants get to Australia? CURRICULUM LINKS • What images do you associate with Coca Cola and Microsoft? Why? OBERT FORTUNE THE • Compare some of the plots of James TEA THIEF is relevant Bond fi lms. How real are his mis- Rfor students in senior sions? secondary or adult educa- tion courses studying History, ROBERT FORTUNE: Studies Of Society and Environ- SECRET AGENT ment (SOSE), English, English as a Second Language (ESL), BIOGRAPHY Politics, Media Studies and Economics. Robert Fortune was born in Scotland in 1813 and is famous for being the This guide is divided into the follow- horticulturalist responsible for the in- ing areas: troduction of about 200 new species of plants into England. He was an avid 1. Robert Fortune: Biography explorer and adventurer who travelled 2. The around Asia and India collecting seed- 3. The Opium Wars lings and keeping detailed records of 4. The Signifi cance of Tea everything he saw. He was also one 5. Movement for the Protecttion of the of Britain’s most successful secret Right To Taste. AUSTRALIAN SCREEN EDUCATION ISSUE 29 2 agents. In 1848, the British govern- Make a list of some of the plants he ment commissioned him to bring might have found in China that are now back from China the best tea seeds, growing in your garden. tea plants, implements and tea work- http://www.zero35.freeserve.co.uk ers, in order to establish plantations http://www.users.qwest.net in Northern India. This was a secret http://www.gardenweb.com mission as the tea plants were heavily protected in China. Disguising himself CHINA as a Chinese man he was led into the most remote parts of China where he Choose one of the topics below to was able to observe and learn the se- research for the class. crets of tea cultivation and processing. This was an extremely risky mission • Research some of the history and as, if caught, Fortune would face the culture of China. death penalty. From 1848 to 1851 he • What products does Australia import stole over 20,000 tea plants from China from China? and transported them to India where • What are some of the characteristics they were grown and cultivated. For- of Chinese art that you see in every- tune was able to learn for himself the day objects? best methods and techniques of tea • What other cultures have been infl u- cultivation and production, methods enced by Chinese traditions? kept secret by the Chinese for centu- • Who was Confucius and what were ries. Fortune’s remarkable feats made his main ideas? possible for the fi rst time, the intensive • What other countries have been cropping and processing of tea in In- infl uenced by Confucianism? dia. In January 1862, Robert Fortune • Do some of the principles of Confu- settled in Brompton, and lived cianism still exist in Chinese cultures off the sale of his travel books and his now? How? collection of Chinese antiques. THE EAST INDIA COMPANY DISCUSS In 1601 the English East India Company If you had to disguise yourself as an was founded by a group of merchants. Australian, what are some of the most They hoped to attain a monopoly on important things that you would need trade within Asia and overtake Spain, to know? Portugal and Holland, which were the other dominant trading empires at the AFTER YOU WATCH THE FILM: time. The East India Company dealt in silk, ivory, spices and cotton, it also 1. How would you describe Robert bought wool, raw silk, chinaware, musk Fortune’s character? and taffeta all to be sold in England. 2. What qualities did he have? It had offi ces in East Asia, India and 3. Why did he choose to do this Sri Lanka. work? 4. What would have been the negative Fine Chinese porcelain was the fi rst effects of his actions? product brought to England at request 5. Why didn’t the Chinese guess who of Queen Elizabeth 1. Hence the term ISSUE 29 or what he was? Royal China. Royal China was so popular that, in the early 1700s, the AUSTRALIAN SCREEN EDUCATION SCIENCE Chinese made tableware and fi gurines in European-style designs. They also WEB SITES ABOUT ROBERT made teapots for the English market FORTUNE: to suit the style in which the English made tea. The following sites contain links to information about Robert Fortune and However, the most famous merchan- his work. dise attributed to the East India Com- pany was its trade in tea. 3 THIS PAGE: AUSTRALIAN MORRISON DRESSED AS A CHINAMAN AROUND 1860, ROBERT FORTUNE, FILM CREW IN THE GREAT RED ROBE TEA GARDEN, WUYISHAN, CHINA. FACING PAGE: TEA PICKING, TEA TRANSPORTATION BY BOAT, BLACK TEA MANUFACTURING, TEA TRANSPORTATION BY ROAD. Contrary to what was popularly be- in the world today? lieved, tea was unknown in India till • How do you know they’re so big? the British introduced the crop. China • What infl uence do they have over held a monopoly on its tea production your lifestyle? and its trade. • In what way are they involved in politics? Chinese tea became the most sought after product in Britain. By 1750, the MEDIA STUDIES: FOLLOW-UP East India Company was importing 2.5 TASK million pounds of Chinese tea annually and was auctioning it in London for fi ve Robert Fortune The Tea Thief uses shillings a pound—twice what it paid poetry, folklore, art and interviews to in Canton. By 1800, the importation portray how the connection between a of Chinese tea would generate more multinational corporation and govern- revenue than the company’s entire ment, was integral in the reshaping of trade with India. cultures and societies.

The English East India Company QUESTIONS expanded its commercial activities over 250 years and controlled half the • What images do the paintings por- world’s trade. It also acted as a proxy tray of tea drinkers? colonial government but in 1858, the • Are there any parallels between the company had grown ineffi cient, and East India Company and modern the Crown revoked its charter and day multinational corporations? took over the management of its own colonies. TASK Source: http://www.discovery.com http://encarta.msn.com • Choose a species or product that has been introduced into Australia DISCUSS from overseas. (For example: Animals such as cattle, sheep or rabbits, plants • What are the biggest corporations such as tobacco, or substances such AUSTRALIAN SCREEN EDUCATION ISSUE 29 4 as alcohol or fast food.) • Use the questions below as a guide, or think of some questions of your own, to explore the effects this new product or species has had on our society.

1. Where did the product come from? 2. How was it brought here? 3. What effect did it have on the popu- lation? 4. What effect did it have on the native fl ora and fauna?

• Develop a screenplay for a docu- mentary that presents your fi ndings to these questions. Use examples of art in your screenplay. • What imagery would you use to express what you want to say?

THE OPIUM WARS

Where does this phrase come from?

I wouldn’t do it, not for all the tea in China

The tea trade was a source of tension between the English and the Chinese during the 1700s. The Chinese control- led the tea market and were able to set extremely high prices. The tea trade in China became economically unten- able for the West because the Chinese demanded payment in silver. Shipping such large amounts of silver around the world was risky and took a heavy toll main- tain isolation from the West on Britain’s fi nances. by closing their ports in the hope of discouraging further imports of opium. The English East India Company’s fi rst In the early 1840s the British Army de- solution was to grow opium poppies feated the Chinese and were granted - an inexpensive crop - in Britain’s the island of Hong Kong under the Indian colonies. treaty of Nanking. China was forced to open up fi ve of its major ports to The British sold opium to the Chinese British traders. Opium continued to be for silver, which they needed to buy sold to China until 1908. China’s tea. Despite the now free opium trade, the ISSUE 29 As a result of the opium trade, nearly tea trade continued to deplete the Em- one quarter of the Chinese population pire’s coffers. China produced and sold AUSTRALIAN SCREEN EDUCATION became addicted to opium. In 1729 to the West, of increasing medio- the Chinese emperor banned opium, cre quality, and was unable to keep up but the East India Company continued with the increase in demand. to trade in it. It was then that the British decided In 1839 the Chinese went to war with to set up tea plantations in India to Britain over the sale of opium. Brit- be able to control tea production and ain believed that it had the right to above all the commodity price. The free trade, whereas China sought to aim was to ensure a constant supply 5 THIS PAGE: MONK PREPARING TEA, CHINESE TEA MANUFACTURERS ROLLING TEA LEAVES, FILMING IN TUKDAH TEA MANUFACTURE, DARJEELING, INDIA. FACING PAGE: ROCK TEA PICKING WUYISHAN CHINA, TEA GARDEN, HUANGSHANG CHINA. t in the future. In the Dragon well area lived an old • At the beginning of the fi lm, there is a woman. She planted trees and made tea. woman performing a tea ceremony. The British government then hired One day a stranger came to the area. It Why would people savour the expe- Robert Fortune to steal tea from China was a fortune hunter. rience of tea making? and ship it to India to be cultivated. The subsequent intensive cropping He saw a stone ball in the old woman’s At the start of the fi lm, this text ap- and processing of tea in India led to a house and he asked the old woman if he pears: worldwide proliferation of tea drinking. could buy it. She thought it was just a stone This soon turned India into the world’s ball so she was happy to sell it to him. One summer day, while visiting a distant largest tea exporter, overtaking the Chi- part of his realm, Shen Nung, an early nese tea market, which did not recover In the evening the old woman washed the Chinese emperor, stopped to rest under a until the 1950s. stone ball thoroughly. She washed it very bush. Some tea leaves accidentally blew clean, then used the water and poured it into the pot of boiling water that he was Source: onto the tea trees. The next day the fortune drinking. Seduced by the subtle aroma, the http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/ hunter returned to buy it. When he saw the emperor ordered that this crop be grown ~boxes/boxweb/teaand.htm http: stone ball, as clean as new, he didn’t want on its lands. //www.bell.lib.umn.edu/Products/ it. He said that the good part had been tea.html washed away. The good part had gone onto This according to Chinese tale was the tea. After that the tea grew well and how tea was fi rst discovered in 2737 Discuss the meaning of this quote: had a unique fl avour. BC:

...It is a curious circumstance that we READ THESE COMMENTS BY • How was the emperor viewed by the grow a poppy in our Indian territories to AUTHOR GEORGE ORWELL ON Chinese and why would this story be poison the people of China in return for a THE SUBJECT OF TEA: important? wholesome beverage which they prepare • Consider the signifi cance of tea in almost exclusively for us If you look up ‘tea’ in the fi rst cookery book Chinese society. What would have that comes to hand you will probably fi nd been their reaction to the introduc- John Barrow; Quarterly Magazine of that it is unmentioned; or at most you will tion of intensive cultivation and 1836 fi nd a few lines of sketchy instructions production of tea in India? which give no ruling on several of the most • Describe tea drinking in Australia DISCUSSION: WHAT DO THESE important points. This is curious, not only and its role in socialising. TERMS MEAN? because tea is one of the mainstays of civi- lization in this country, as well as in Eire, THE CLASSIC OF TEA • Free Trade agreement Australia and New Zealand, but because • The GAT treaty the best manner of making it is the subject The Classic of Tea, written by Lu Yu in • Globalisation of violent disputes. When I look through my the 8th century was the world’s fi rst own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I fi nd comprehensive treatise on tea. Lu Yu 1. Does the right to free trade extend no fewer than eleven outstanding points. was raised in the rank of ‘God of Tea’. to trading in products that could On perhaps two of them there would be His work made an essential contribu- have a detrimental health effect on pretty general agreement, but at least four tion to the development of the symbol- people? others are acutely controversial. Here are ism of tea. It describes nine ways for 2. What products are being traded my own eleven rules, every one of which I the rite of tea. today that might have negative regard as golden… effects on the health of the local They are: population? ‘A Nice Cup of Tea’ by George Orwell 1. Prepare 3. What damages did opium addiction Evening Standard, 12 January 1946. As 2. Discern cause to Chinese society? quoted in soc.culture.british 5/28/94 3. Instruments 4. What would some of the personal 4. Fire consequences of opium addiction For Full extract click onto: http: 5. Water have been? //www.ansto.gov.au/natfac/ANBF/ 6. Roast 5. What are some of the causes of drug tea.html 7. Crush addiction today? 8. Boil 6. What damages does drug addiction DISCUSSION 9. Drink cause to our society?

AUSTRALIAN SCREEN EDUCATION • What do the Chinese tale and READ THE FOLLOWING THE IMPORTANCE OF TEA George Orwell’s comments on tea, INSTRUCTIONS FOR TEA

ISSUE 29 reveal about the process of drinking MAKING: Read this story from the fi lm: tea?

6 POSSIBLE CAPTIONS TOP TO BOTTOM: : BLABLA BLA BLA LABLA BLA BLA LABLA BLA BLA LABLA BLA BLALABLA BLA BLA- LABLA BLA BLA LABLA 1. Get a tea bag out of a box of generic is recorded in the books of herbs for FOOD AND FESTIVALS teabags. its medicinal qualities for heart disease, 2. Put it in a big chipped mug. high blood pressure and chilblains. Research the reasons why these foods 3. Add cold water from the tap. are eaten at certain celebrations and 4. Place it in a Microwave for one Read the following extract from the times of the year. Think of some other minute. Nutrition Australia web site on the ef- foods from different cultures and re- 5. Add a dollop of UHT milk. fects of tea on heart disease: search why they are eaten. 6. Add two saccharine tablets. 7. Stir vigorously. TEA AND HEART DISEASE • Easter eggs 8. Dunk a chocolate Tim Tam into it. • Marzipan eggs at weddings 9. Drink. For several years it has been suspected • Hot cross buns that drinking tea might help protect against • Turkey at Christmas • Compare these two differing at- heart disease. One way in which tea could • Turkish Apple tea titudes towards tea. be protective is through the effects of ‘anti- • Rice cakes at Chinese New Year ! • What is the fundamental difference oxidants’ – chemicals in tea that help pro- between them? tect blood cholesterol (among other blood For more information about ATOM study components) from being oxidised. Oxida- guides and The Speakers’ Bureau visit our MOVEMENT FOR THE tion of cholesterol turns it into a form that web site www.metromagaine.com.au or email: PROTECTION OF THE is strongly associated with increased risk [email protected] RIGHT TO TASTE of heart disease. This antioxidant effect of tea may also be helpful in reducing the SLOW FOOD MOVEMENT risk of some cancers. There are other ways in which tea may be benefi cial to health, The following is an extract from the too. For example, the same chemicals that Slow Food Movement web site: appear to protect blood cholesterol also reduce the likelihood that blood will clot The international movement was founded in the arteries of the heart (the immediate in Paris in 1989. The defi nition contained cause of most heart attacks). in its Manifesto conveys a very clear mes- sage: a movement for the protection of the For more information, go to: http: right to taste. If Slow Food has grown into //www.nutritionaustralia.org a large-scale international movement, with over 60,000 members in all fi ve con- DISCUSS tinents (of whom about half in Italy), it is precisely because the concept of ‘pleas- • What other foods are known for their ure’ is a complex one encompassing many medicinal qualities? meanings and involving many aspects of • Do you believe in alternative medi- our existence. cine? • Are there any particular foods from • What is this movement about? your cultural background that are • What are the parallels of the Chinese eaten for medicinal purposes? Have treatment of tea and the ideals of the you tested the theory? slow food movement? • Click onto the following web site of the slow food movement. Make a list of some of their activities. What would be the benefi ts of their philos- ISSUE 29 ophy? http://www.slowfood.com • In what ways has the introduction AUSTRALIAN SCREEN EDUCATION of fast food changed our attitudes towards food and eating? • How important is it to maintain a connection to the way in which food is cultivated, produced and prepared?

THE MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF TEA

In the fi lm, the medicinal properties of 7 tea are widely discussed. Sung Lo tea