The death of the last Ming emperor marked the end of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It would be replaced by the Qing Dynasty, also referred to as the Manchu Dynasty (1644-1912). The Qing/Manchu dynasty ended China’s dynasty rule and was replaced by the Republic of China in 1912. |
The Qing Dynasty was founded in 1644 by foreign Manchu rulers, however, the Manchu didn’t gain complete control of China until app- roximately 1683, with small pockets of loyal Ming remaining in China throughout the entire Qing dynasty.Like the Mongol rulers before them the non- Chinese Manchu rulers drank the same dark, course black tea laced with fermented mare’s milk. While they brought this style of course tea with them to the imperial court the remain- ing Han Chinese never subscribed to this type |
imperial palace, located in the Forbidden City operated two separate kitchens-one for preparing the Manchu’s style of milk tea, and the other the Han style of clear tea.The Mongolian ruler, Altyun-Khan sent the first tea to Russia in the early 17th century as a gift to Tsar Michael Fedorovich. Later, in 1689 the first Manchu emperor, Kangxi (1661-1722) signed the Treaty of Nerchinska which marked the beginning of regular trade between Russia and China with goods and materials sent between China, Siberia, and Mongolia by camel caravans. Until late in the 18th century supplies of tea were transported to Great Tea Horse Road But it was the Dutch who first formed the habit of tea drinking in the West in the early 17th Indonesia and China were consolidated for the long trip back to |
Chinese tea producers had the chall- enge of creating a tea that wouldn’t rot or spoil during the damp and wet ship voyage back home. With much trial and error they finally hit on a method of fir- ing and bake-drying the tea, eventually refining and perfecting the technique for producing black tea. For many years these black teas were produced in the Wuyi Mountains in China’s Fujian pro– vince and from there sent down river to the trading port in Canton.The first shipment of Chinese tea arrived at the Hague in 1610 and was passionately embraced by the Dutch citizens. They added heavy amounts of milk based on reports of how the Chinese drank their tea, which was true of the Manchu emperor in power at the time, but not the Han emperors who never added milk. Dutch physicians immediately jumped on board, declaring tea a “necessary and curative medicine.” Along with ever increasing quantities of tea, the Dutch also purchased other fine and In 1670 the first Dutch tea reached the Massachusetts colony, black tea for sale. New Amsterdam passed from Chinese tea didn’t |
fashionable drink for proper English ladies. This gave rise to the social tradition of English “tea time,” that carried over and remained popular until today, where it is still practiced and enjoyed the world over. Enjoy. |