Erling Hoh

This is the remarkable story of tea and its uses from ancient times to the present. The narrative takes the reader from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the splendour of the Tang and Song Dynasties in China, from the tea ceremony aesthetics of medieval Japan to the fabled tea and horse trade of Central Asia, from the advent of Britain’s love affair with tea to the tea party that sparked the American Revolution. Throughout the centuries, tea has inspired artists, enhanced religious experience, played a pivotal role in the emergence of world trade, and helped trigger major wars. No other drink has touched the lives of so many people in so many different ways. The True History of Tea brings all these disparate strands together in an erudite tale full of quirky facts and unexpected byways, celebrating the common heritage of a beverage we have all come to love.

The most authoritative and entertaining history of tea ever published, written with verve to engage a wide readership. For the first time in a popular history of tea, the ancient Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, Mongolian, Persian and Arabic annals have been thoroughly consulted and carefully sifted. The resulting narrative takes the reader from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the splendour of the Tang and Song dynasties, from the tea ceremony aesthetics of medieval Japan to the fabled tea and horse trade of Central Asia, from the advent of Britain’s love affair with tea to the tea party that helped spark the American Revolution. The True History of Tea celebrates the common heritage of a beverage we all love and plays a crucial part in dismantling that obsolete dictum: East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.

World--renowned scholar of Chinese history Victor H. Mair teams up with journalist Erling Hoh to spill the tea on this remarkable beverage and its uses, from ancient times to the present and from East to West. This accessible and entertaining history of tea makes use of the Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, and Mongolian annals to explore the subject in rich historical detail. The resulting narrative travels from the jungles of Southeast Asia to the splendor of the arrival of the first European vessels in Far Eastern waters. Through the centuries, tea has inspired artists, enhanced religious experience, played a pivotal role in the emergence of world trade, and triggered cataclysmic events that altered the course of humankind. How did green tea become the national beverage of Morocco? And who was the beautiful Emma Hart, immortalized by George Romney in his painting The Tea-maker of Edgware Road? No other drink has touched the daily lives of so many people in so many different ways. The True History of Tea brings these disparate aspects together in a compelling tale that combines scholarship with an eye for the quirky, offbeat paths that tea has strayed upon during its long voyage. It celebrates the common heritage of a beverage we have all come to love, and plays a crucial part in the work of dismantling that obsolete dictum: East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.

Mao Zedong's labour reform camps were notoriously brutal: modeled after the Soviet gulag, their inmates were subject to backbreaking labour, malnutrition, and vindictive wardens. They were thought to be impossible to escape but one man did. Xu Hongci, a young medical student, was a loyal member of the Communist Party until he fell victim to Mao's Anti-Rightist Campaign in 1957. After posting a criticism of the party, he spent the next fourteen years in the labor camps. Despite horrific conditions and terrible odds, Hongci was determined to escape, failing three times before he succeeded in 1972. Hongci broke out of a prison near the Burmese border, traveled across China to see his mother in Shanghai one last time, and then finally crossed the Mongolian border. There he eventually married and settled into a new life, until he was able to return home after Mao's death. Originally published in Hong Kong, Hongci's remarkable memoir recounts his life from childhood through his prison break. After discovering the book in a Hong Kong library, the journalist Erling Hoh tracked down the original manuscript and compiled this abridged translation of Hongci's memoir, which includes background on this turbulent period, an epilogue following Hongci up to his death in 2008, and Hongci's own drawings and maps. Almost nobody was able to escape from Mao's labor camps, but No Wall Too High tells the true story of someone who did.