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China was not interested in European goods and only wanted to get paid in 'hard currency' for its own goods and commodities (China, silk, tea, etc). The Spanis
by mytailorisrich 3y ago
China was not interested in European goods and only wanted to get paid in 'hard currency' for its own goods and commodities (China, silk, tea, etc).
The Spanish went with it but the English did not want to and decided to find something the Chinese would want. And they found opium, which they could conveniently produce in their Asia colonies. They also started producing tea in their own colonies to avoid having to buy it from China (this is the reason why India produces tea and Indians drink chai).
- Kbelicius 3y ago> this is the reason why India produces tea and Indians drink chai Chai is just tea or is it not in India?
- gibolt 3y agoCha is tea in Chinese. I assume this is Indian naming is mentioned as a carryover from Chinese.
- porphyra 3y agoNorthern Chinese (Mandarin, etc) call it Cha which became chai etc. Southern Chinese (Min Nan, etc) call it Teh which became tea etc. You can see that coastal nations got their tea from the seafaring southern regions whereas much of Central Asia, North Africa, and Eastern Europe got it from the northerners via the Silk Road. https://www.reddit.com/r/etymologymaps/comments/g4bmh3/chai_tea/ https://www.reddit.com/r/etymologymaps/comments/g4bmh3/chai_...
- duskwuff 3y agoThey're the same thing (besides how they're customarily served). What the parent is getting at is the linguistic aspect: most cultures which imported tea by land over the Silk Road, like India and Turkey, call it something that sounds like "cha". Cultures which imported it by sea, like most of Europe, call it something that sounds like "te".
- pjmlp 3y agoWe imported it by sea (Portugal), and call it Chá.
- mytailorisrich 3y agoTea wasn't a common beverage throughout India before the British. It was known but mostly used as medicinal plant. Commercial growing was initiated by the British. The point I was making is that Indians drink tea, and have a tea industry, because of the British.
- numbers 3y agoYou might be interested in this: https://qz.com/1176962/map-how-the-word-tea-spread-over-land-and-sea-to-conquer-the-world https://qz.com/1176962/map-how-the-word-tea-spread-over-land...
- mytailorisrich 3y agoIn India this is sweetened tea with milk. The point is that Indians did not reallu drink tea before the British.
- Wytwwww 3y ago> China was not interested in European goods The Chinese government wasn't interested, a lot of people in China were and were willing to trade with Europeans they just weren't allowed to do that freely. Of course, this is probably more relevant to the 1800s (and I'm not talking only about opium, it was just easier to transport/smuggle).