Robert Fortune on How Tea Was Stolen From the Chinese | FULL DOCUMENTARY

Nowadays we associate tea with calm and wellbeing. But this incredibly popular drink has a violent and turbulent history. It’s been a bedfellow of opium, a catalyst for several wars and was the trigger for the world’s first case of industrial espionage. Its murky ascent mirrors the story of colonial expansion and the industrial revolution in the 19th century.
It was the lynchpin between two empires - one in decline, the other booming. Its central character - Robert Fortune - was the precursor to James Bond. His incredible journey is history in the making. His weapon is a humble leaf. His life is a tangled web of mystery and subterfuge that sees a dynasty brought to its knees.
How could Robert Fortune travel through China unrecognised and unchallenged, while carrying thousands of tea plants? How did he manage to outwit the Emperor’s soldiers and spies and export not only their valuable tea, but also their expert horticulturalists? Why did his wife reduce all his notes to ashes, after his death?
Documentary: Tea War: How China’s Tea Was Stolen (2016)
Direction: Jérôme Scemla & Charles-Antoine De Rouvre
Production: La Compagnie des Taxi-Brousse
#fulldocumentary #documentary #film #tea #china #war #espionnage #spying #uk #history #robertfortune #colonialism

[@alexanderjentes]

I believe the title should be: ‘Robert Fortune on How Tea Was Stolen From the Chinese.’

[@shipwreckedpoet3]

And the actual documentary is titled “Tea War”: The Adventures of Robert Fortune

[@giuseppelogiurato5718]

"How Robert Fortune stole a few minutes out of my life"... "Robert Fortune" 😂

[@stephenmeier4658]

"How intellectual property was stolen by China" is more relevant here I believe

[@kyk1682]

It’s stupid SEO. They won’t change it

[@huwpatt3817]

the silk secret was stolen also from China... but the lawfare of intellectual property [ip] by the lazy deceivers of the aukus mob is more egregious ​@@stephenmeier4658

[@brettcurtis5710]

Yep, and one of the East India Company offshoots, Jardine-Matheson's HSBC Bank, founded on opium, still financing drug dealers, who woulda thunk???

[@alomaalber6514]

the YOU TUBE on the Opium Trade is excellent, My town was part of the East Indian Company but took me a lifetime here in retirement to get the whole story on YOU TUBE! Cheers! Also the book by Peter Mathieson The Snow Leopard a great read.( that family).

[@elizabethdugan7640]

I found this documentary very informative about a drink I enjoy. However it wasn't the first great industrial secret theft from China. The first was silk! Under the patronage of the Byzantine Emperor, Justinian I, 2 Christian monks brought back silk worms and the knowledge of silk production. First the Roman Empire, then secondly, the Byzantine Empire had lost too much silver to China for the purchase of silk. The monoply was broken when Imperial Byzantine silk factories were set up. The Sui Dynasty lost out but the Byzantine Empire gained a new revenue source. Thus was born the European silk industry. This happened in the 6th century CE.

[@lasentinal]

I agree with your account of the theft of silk from China. My problem is the meaningless use of CE and BCE. These are too phonetically similar. I use AD to mean Advancing Dates and BC to mean Backwards Chronology which is logically what they are. You count forwards from 1AD and backwards 1BC, a bit like the number line, only there was no year zero, because the Romans had concept of zero as a number.

[@anamokena-nicol4247]

@@lasentinal may be relevant to the account of history it was taken from. Someones parents/grandparents books they wrote on/about what they learnt, (or, the account of history/learning that was required to be preached to a new apprentice or potential successor; or even especially with the British non-nationals or new nationals due to invasions and wars). That can become important when undressing the obviously overdressed. Smaller estates were often only able to afford education to a certain level, and typically relied on traditional information, in larger estates the staff may have accessed information while the head of the household or estate was abscent. They wouldn't have been able to access other information as they would have only had access to the materials for the estate or house they are in, which would mostly be local and some regional/national knowledge only as items would be produced from the estate for the estate primarily, with any surplus trade going into the regional markets where the option for external trade exists .

[@garycadogan4258]

cool, normally a war is fought and many lives cast asunder

[@berndkliemann283]

Most of all industrial secrets were stolen by China, not from China! 😊

[@berndkliemann283]

Most of all industrial secrets were stolen by China, not from China! 😊

[@RichieTyndall]

When you open with the outrageous assertion that the East India Company was honourable, you immediately lost all credibility.

[@revolutionaryhamburger]

I’m curious. What is an example of an honorable institution in your opinion?

[@carlabroderick5508]

Didn’t notice the East India Company was presented as honorable. Its terrible reputation overwhelms any adjective.

[@raolhooley]

She isint asserting that eegit...thats just the phrase that was used originally

[@rogermassey8844]

In the 18th / 19th centuries its title was The Honourable East India Company. So this programme is historically accurate in using its full title. Its use was not to praise the EIC as behaving honourably which it obviously did not.

[@asc3184]

Theft even from its Allies was never below England and the UK. Wish that tea was the only theft.

[@edwardhaglin2322]

Wasn't silk stolen from China before this?

[@aldenteh9412]

Isn't the title supposed to be "How tea was stolen from the Chinese"? ...Stolen to the Chinese completely changes the meaning, the documentary already failed at the title.

[@airmaxjoe]

Not a fan of how this guy’s story is being spun as a positive thing. feels pretty evil and nefarious, and he should be viewed very poorly.

[@xavisanchez7522]

The east india company is older than the british empire . And was more powerful than britain itself

[@raolhooley]

Actually wrong because it was reined in by the British government so therefore not more powerful..lol..

[@llee4225]

The monarchy got kickback from East India for permits and military support to it Mafia control.

[@danguee1]

@@raolhooley Haha! Not a great political thinker, then? It was more powerful - but then was reined in by the British government. Those statements are not mutually exclusive. The EIC heirarchy submitted to British law not because it was weak(er) - but because it obeyed that particular law.... Go on - think about it - you can get there!

[@raolhooley]

@@danguee1 desperate to be right ..lol...given it didnt want to be reigned in by the british gov but submitted to that fate means it was powerless against the might of the british gov therefore weaker..power has many forms..not a great political thinker are u...lol

[@carolebner2091]

Very beautiful country,great video.also informative i didn't know how India had got into the tea business.

[@martinanderson4721]

The narrator is right about education in Scotland - two Acts required that every child in every parish shall be taught to read and write. Plus the Reformation.

[@SuperPromethee]

And the crown regime did bar the american merchants to buy tea directly from china ..

[@markuslaugner4853]

I'm a big tea fan and have been many times in China First time 1983 I know what is quality tea I have been many secret places where they grow very expensive tea I helped picking and processing But was never allowed too take a plant with me It should stay that way

[@cliffmays442]

First I would not call this "industrial" theft. Also what Robert did pales compared to what the Chinese have done in more recent times to America. Secondly tea was already taken out of China by Japanese monks in the 7th century A.D., or there about. Also China gave tea to plant to the Koreans in about the same time. But prof. Zheng seems okay with that.

[@corylarsen5788]

Shanghai has existed for 1000s years and has been a major center for trade

[@philchinamusical]

One interesting thing is that though it says in the film that there was no common tone in China back then, all the Chinese actors in this film are speaking Putonghua (a common tone spoken by nowadays Chinese nation wide).

[@douglaslee6324]

Yes, there was. They call it Guan Hua or official language. Hower, it is less popular than Putonghua today.

[@douglaslee6324]

The actors have to speak Putonghua. Otherwise, the audience can not understand their dialect. Acting is not real. You are so naive. Grow up.

[@valmarsiglia]

Stolen _to_ the Chinese? Also, I think you'll find quite a few more cases of industrial espionage prior to this (eg silkworms, Venetian glass, etc).

[@jimmywang1586]

one addiction feeding another addiction: British opium for Chinese tea.

[@xavisanchez7522]

Today is manufactured sugar

[@khtan585]

Which addiction is destructive and part of a prohibitted drug ?

[@JS-jh4cy]

Chinese refused payment in pure silver for tea, so eventually someone came up with trading opium for tea

[@redtobertshateshandles]

My dad's 95 and been drinking tea for most of that time. I don't think tea is harmful.

[@RedStar0723]

thats ridonculous as everyone knew china demanded nothing BUT silver from foreign traders.

[@rossmckechnie1210]

For all the tea in China is a fantastic book for anyone that wants a little more detail around this story

[@gkoknok6076]

Show would be better without the woke professor spreading her bullshit.

[@markthompson180]

yet another example of "woke" being way overused... Just say you didn't agree with her, or is that too painful?

[@martinanderson4721]

The tea clippers ( Cutty Sark, Black Prince, Therrmopylae) brought the fresh tea .mainly from Shanghai to Bristol where auction sales took place .They took about 73 days competing with each other. The phrase " on the nail " at the quayside posts.

[@valery668]

Fascinating and we must remember the Honore Balzac observation: "Behind every great fortune, there is a crime."

[@TheCdecisneros]

LIke when Reagen said to then President of Mexico De La Madrid ."stop selling us Marijuana. DLM answered ," NO Mr. President, Your people have to stop buying it.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage documentary shared by an excellent ( Slice full Doc) channel. Documentary about (tea ,silver, opium) as commercial commodities between Great Britain 🇬🇧 and the Chinese empire ... escalated to opium wars between China and Britain...Britain imposed its tyrannical conditions upon humiliated China at that time...thank humiliation leftover devastated phenomena in China until the end of WW2.

[@csaracho2009]

The 'first industrial theft" was that of the silk making from silkworms, many centuries before. And also the secrets to making gunpowder, also.

[@Catlady77777]

Oops

[@alomaalber6514]

the YOU TUBE documentary on the Opium Trade and Boxer Rellion a must! and the one on Magellian! good stuff here on YOU TUBE and free audio books too.

[@s._3560]

Also porcelain by Jesuit priests.

[@alomaalber6514]

@@s._3560 as yes the beloved Blue and White china! still popular today!

[@dalebriansmith4029]

vocal fry was excessive and distracting

[@zhouzhang9102]

Very much over dramatised blurb and story generally. It's worth reading Fortune's own first hand account for a more balanced version, which is far more impressive, informative and factual, in my opinion, without the drama and hype.

[@johnathandaviddunster38]

London cockney rhyming slang " Tea Leaf = Thief " 🤑😜💩

[@christianwitness]

This is a good story. Well done. Who knew? Not me...

[@sailordoc2818]

The Brits stole from other people ?? .. no way

[@theoldcurmudgeon7649]

8:30: "No dependence can be placed on the veracity of the Chinese. I may seem uncharitable, but such is really the case." Some things never change.

[@NCM-xy8ow]

Words of a pirate and thief.

[@alfaeco15]

And he cheated them stealing Tea plants, tea growing techniques...

[@raolhooley]

​@@alfaeco15boohoo..woke nonsense...what exploitations had gone before both in china and England...eeegits..china at the time was a brutal dog eat dog place full of slaves,peasants and a wealthy class that had the power of life or death over vast swathes of the populace..it was a society that had grown from continual war and oppression..there is no period that has moral high ground..humans have always been greedy..read more to obtain a realistic balance

[@Landrew0]

"Stolen" from the Chinese implies that they owned it all.

[@christianwitness]

I drink unsweetened black tea every day. I am 78. Carry on.

[@llee4225]

Is that where "making a fortune" comes from?

[@michaelrowsell1160]

So in conclusion Ceylon ,India ,Kenya and many other places need to thank the British .

[@AndyJarman]

29:10 God forbid any Chinese oroducts be 'stoken' from the West!

[@aryanhan506]

STOLEN FROM the Chinese ……..who is semi literate or deliberate to write ‘stolen to the Chinese’ ????

[@jorgedufeng1626]

Well, lot of things were stolen or cheated out…

[@harryhole5786]

You cannot steal a plant, it's mine ! No, nobody owns a plant, if you abuse of it: you get "stolen". That's commerce, you abuse on prices, you loose your business. Didn't you learn that on monopoly school or did you sleep at lessons?

[@xavisanchez7522]

What is unjustifiable is to see 800/900 million people spreading inquisition when the censorship times are over and everyone is free to embrace again their native languages rather than using a genocide for purposes language( modern day spanish

[@mechannel7046]

14:00 Over 200 varieties of plants were introduced from China to Britain 17:20 China history podcast

[@jsa-z1722]

The Buddha did NOT rip out his eyelids. His EYELASHES.

[@willemakkermans4067]

The eyelash story is about Bodhidarma, at Shaolin.

[@ChristopherBowly]

Excellent documentary . Very interesting & informative & well presented & illustrated. Very many thanks.

[@SLICE_Full_Doc]

Thank you 🤗

[@mimipanini17]

What a wonderful, well done documentary, to be enjoyed for many but especially for tea lovers. Thanks!

[@SLICE_Full_Doc]

Thank you ! ☺

[@LPRH246]

Perhaps a cup of tea some opium a good lie down and think about merry old England

[@dineshsoundararajan3274]

Love how they show the contrast between the indifferent/racist view of the white lady with the asian lady in two three places 😂

[@robinsonrex1280]

Wait till you move to Malaysia and Singapore and experience the racism of your fellow Asians over there.

[@alexanderjentes]

A fascinating story!

[@ambindia]

Very informative. A few questions.... How did tea get to Japan and when? Central Asia?

[@martinanderson4721]

The departure from Britain by Fortune in the Peninsular and Orient shipping Company vessel Ripon.. This shipping line was founded by 2 Officers who had served in the British Army in Spain to get the French out.( Salamanca, Valladolid, Fuentes etc Hence P & O. 😮

[@phil20_20]

"Robert Makes His Fortune" 🥠 - I highly recommend a cup of tea upon embarking this adventure.

[@Michigander269]

Im only here due to my reflexive impulse to check what the misspelled title implied. I don't even drink tea, much less ever contemplated it's origins and history...still, pretty interesting and well made. Good job 🤙

[@Thaile37]

Green tea was discovered by British at that time not “first discovered”… that was 2737 BCE, firstly by the Chinese by centuries… I mean it’s obvious but why are they saying “first discovered?”

[@danguee1]

29:06 that's rich, Lady! Complaining about 'espionage'.... There were no IP rights on that - he just observed a process and made notes. We should all applaud the dissemination of tea to the world. Since when have we started feeling sorry for monopolists?

[@artfasil]

They stoles it, my precious.

[@huntergray3985]

Given China's predilection for stealing Western technology, it seems rather rich moaning about taking a few tea seeds. Can anyone think of another crop, any crop, that is now grown internationally, but which once was claimed by one country as the only country in the world with the right to grow it? (Not including GMO or patented crop varieties, which have a limited protection for a short period of time.)

[@chrismac2234]

If we stole tea from China. Then get off our steam engines the Computers. Penicillin, dentistry, pain relief. Our atom bombs, the list is endless

[@robintan502]

Centuries later , tea drinking and appreciation among the popular culture in the West remains largely rudimentary, ignorant and unappreciative of centuries of rich tea varieties and tea culture from tea's countries of origin in the East. In the East, we appreciate and embrace all manners and forms of tea culture, the new and the old, including British tea culture. But it's good to see a number of Western connoisseurs are starting to explore and appreciate teas to the fullest extent

[@martinanderson4721]

The 1920s Flapper Song 🎵 Shanghai Lil - looking for my Shanhai Lil. "

[@anwiycti1585]

How were the lives of plantation worker comparative to cooli’s at its origin?

[@casanova1925]

Commercials every 6 minutes? This is unwatchable.

[@Mayadanava]

Um stealing silk worms... I think that wins by almost 500 years.

[@martinanderson4721]

The Narrator doesn't refer to the Great Philosophy of Confucius.

[@Andres-v7r2h]

The british what could i said horsethieves they stole gibraltar from spain

[@Mustang94c]

I love how the Chinese historian first wish is to steal the tea back like the Chinese never steal anything 😂

[@brianwood1041]

The Buddha story , was out of place for the spirit of the Buddha and dharma

[@timburrows5807]

If the chinese want reparations for their tea they can get lost,i drink coffee.

[@daveb0t82]

Fascinating.

[@benhassan11]

The title should be: One more item stolen by the English.

[@glorioskey]

Why don't speakers get voice coaches!

[@sarcasmo57]

Tea is yummy.

[@helenachase5627]

The female's voice is unbearable

[@brucelu4782]

Porcelain/China was stolen too.

[@yorkiesweetpea23]

Seriously, who did the title? 🤦🏻‍♀️ I had assumed the video wouldn't be in English, or that the captions/sub titles would be horrible, due to the botched wordings in the title.

[@glorioskey]

Oh no the tinny voice with fry!😖

[@alomaalber6514]

Also the YOU TUBE on the Opium Trade and Boxer Rebellion a must. And the one entitled Magellian.

[@Arwar555]

Thank you Mr Fortune. May you RIP . You have made us people fron Sylhet very wealthy due to your acts. We now grow the best and most expensive tea in the world ...due to YOU SIR!!!!

[@martinanderson4721]

The Logbook of the Cutty Sark.

[@hafunland894]

Perhaps anyone who enjoys fine tea should thank the creative industrious Chinese...

[@nphipps9406]

in other words, coolies are the same as a particular name they are calling native Africans and Indians?

[@golgumbazguide...4113]

Explore Golgumbaz Deccan india 🇮🇳

[@margitwes6495]

He was a thief and a fortune hunter. Funny how we still fight wars today to steal other countries riches.

[@AndyJarman]

I am gladdened to see there are some beautiful places left in China.

[@m.y.7097]

Free trade 😂

[@markthompson180]

What kind of "Scottish" accent was that?

[@leololauzone]

I loooved it! ❤

[@370530e]

Check the story of Henry Wickham.

[@martinwilby8942]

who please explain i have googled the name and nothing is coming up of interest

[@uwusmolbean]

Mo 🌈

[@carlabroderick5508]

Industrial secrets are guarded as the wealth of any nation. Likewise, they will eventually be pilfered however, a process of globalization of knowledge. We respect China’s guarding its secrets at the time, but we hate the monopolization of seeds practiced by Monsanto now. We deplore the loss of wealth by one nation then, but blame it for our own loss of individual wealth, such as when our manufacturing was ended by China’s ingenuity and huge labor population.

[@Simonjose7258]

Karma is

[@London97]

Love this kind of content !😊

[@SLICE_Full_Doc]

Thank you ! 🤗

[@kennethmorrison7689]

Chinese green tea not favored in England nor in all of Europe. Somewhere a YT video exists which I watched a few years ago. It was posted by a scientist & he clamed that black Indian tea had germ & bacterial protections & helped the poor endure the Industrial revolution and caused great benefits to their society.

[@Janovial]

Chinese tea are many kinds. Black is one of them.

[@NCM-xy8ow]

Chinese tea is mostly black tea

[@jacku8304]

There is no such thing as black India Tea as it was stolen out of China and brought into the British colony in 19th century. It was introduced to India by the British to overcome the monopoly of Chinese production. The first area to be planted was the mountain region surrounding the city of Darjeeling, perched on the Himalayan foothills, in the 1850s. Darjeeling covers the history of Darjeeling town and its adjoining hill areas belonging to Sikkim, but eventually part of British India. The British illegally incorporated Darjeeling into the British created India and give its independence in1947. India annexed Sikkim in 1975.

[@royupton2031]

Yanks know f**k all about tea, so why do we have 2 of them narrating this tale

[@RichieTyndall]

Your opening statement is sweeping. Some Americans do know about tea. Film narrators don’t necessarily have to know the subject about which they are narrating. They just need to know how to speak clearly.

[@xavisanchez7522]

Of course you know all, but not for american or english, but thanks to the companies founded by the catalans, the same ones that founded cala forn, arida zona and terra florida.

[@xavisanchez7522]

@@RichieTyndallamericans are english speakers.

[@oml81mm]

Tea is grown in the USA, especially in one of the Carolinas (forget which one) and, in a smaller way, in quite a few other states as well!

[@jesse89625]

UK was a joke before 1700

[@markthompson180]

I know, right? Because it didn't exist until 1801... 😜

[@martinwilby8942]

@@markthompson180 its worse now

[@nangdarin1655]

So the "honorable"??? East India company hired a THIEF to steal the secrets of tea from the Chinese??😂😅 What is this? Sarcasm! Or plain stupidity of the writer and narrator