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Famously the West stole tea and silk cultivation secrets from the Chinese and I'm pretty sure they never paid any royalties...
by Neonlicht 2y ago
Famously the West stole tea and silk cultivation secrets from the Chinese and I'm pretty sure they never paid any royalties...
- WillPostForFood 2y agoWhat's the royalty on tea cultivation?
- mywittyname 2y agoThey also fought the Opium Wars over tea (well, trade imbalances resulting from the tea trade).
- ywvcbk 2y agoTo be fair it’s not like the Chinese were unwilling to buy western goods (not just opium) it’s just that the ultra mercantilist Qing government didn’t allow them to..
- ywvcbk 2y agoWell… by Western standards the patent on silk (tea is probably no even applicable) would have expired a couple of thousand year prior to the 1800s. Nobody is arguing in favor of perpetual patents.. Edit: the Romans first “stole” silk in the 500s, but still