2-979-093 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Chinese Woman gathering Tea - from a drawing by a Chinese artist, 1857. 'To the cultivation and manufacture of this wonderful plant the Chinese mainly owe their world-wide celebrity. Its use, as collected from the works of the Chinese, is traced to the fabulous period of their history - the earliest account of the plant being contained in the "She King,"...compiled by their renowned philosopher and great moralist, Confucius...It has been for ages the theme of Chinese poets, the idol of their husbandmen, and the highest favourite of the Emperor and his Government; and in our own country the deprivation of the article of tea would prove a calamity of no slight importance. It affords a luxury to the rich, and a blessing to the poor; and the moral effect of this beverage, as preventing recourse to stronger stimulants, is indubitable'. From "Illustrated London News", 1857.