#not for all the tea in china

[tejennnn]

The tea master and the birthplace of tea 🫖🍃

APH China / G̶r̶a̶n̶d̶p̶a̶ Yao with pu'er tea! 🇨🇳 He is holding a chinese tea cake with some of the gong fu cha (tea ceremony) kit - gai wan cup (for infusion) and small cup for drinking.

[oifaaa]

What's your opinion on Americans who call themselves Irish because their ancestors 180 years ago were Irish

I've currently got some Americans angry at me rn (someone on one of my asks i think even implied I'm british which ???) all bc I dared say that American kettles aren't as good or as common which I've googled it now and am right if you got problems take it up with Google please im stepping away from that conversation - all this to say I'm not touching the powder keg that is American identity I'm sorry it just doesn't seem worth it

[fatehbaz]

Nothing in the past, moreover, gave any cause to suspect ginseng’s presence so far away. Or even closer by: since antiquity, for well over a millennium, the ginseng consumed in all of East Asia had come from just one area -- the northeast mountainous lands straddling Manchuria and Korea. No one had found it anywhere else. No one was even thinking, now, to look elsewhere. The [...] [French traveler] Joseph-Francois Lafitau didn’t know this. He had been [...] visiting Quebec on mission business in October of 1715 [...]. He began to search for ginseng. [...] [T]hen one day he spotted it [...]. Ginseng did indeed grow in North America. [...]

Prior to the nuclear disaster in the spring of 2011, few outside Japan could have placed Fukushima on a map of the world. In the geography of ginseng, however, it had long been a significant site. The Edo period domain of Aizu, which was located here, had been the first to try to grow the plant on Japanese soil, and over the course of the following centuries, Fukushima, together with Nagano prefecture, has accounted for the overwhelming majority of ginseng production in the country.

Aizu’s pioneering trials in cultivation began in 1716 – by coincidence, exactly the same year that Lafitau found the plant growing wild in the forests of Canada. [...]

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Since the 1670s the numbers of people [in Japan] clamoring for access to the drug had swelled enormously, and this demand had to be met entirely through imports. The attempt to cultivate ginseng in Aizu -- and soon after, many other domains -- was a response to a fiscal crisis.

Massive sums of silver were flowing out of the country to pay for ginseng and other drugs [...]. Arai Hakuseki, the chief policy maker [...], calculated that no less than 75% of the country’s gold, and 25% of its silver had drained out of Japan [to pay for imports] [...]. Expenditures for ginseng were particularly egregious [...]: in the half-century between 1670s through the mid-1720s that marked the height of ginseng fever in Japan, officially recorded yearly imports of Korean ginseng through Tsushima sometimes reached as much as four to five thousand kin (approx. 2.4–3 metric tons).

What was to be done? [...] The drain of bullion was unrelenting. [...] [T]he shogunate repeatedly debased its currency, minting coins that bore the same denomination, but contained progressively less silver. Whereas the large silver coin first issued in 1601 had been 80% pure, the version issued in 1695 was only 64% silver, and the 1703 mint just 50%. Naturally enough, ginseng dealers in Korea were indifferent to the quandaries of the Japanese rulers, and insisted on payment as before; they refused the debased coins. The Japanese response speaks volumes about the unique claims of the drug among national priorities: in 1710 (and again in 1736) a special silver coin of the original 80% purity was minted exclusively for use in the ginseng trade. [...]

[T]he project of cultivating ginseng and other medicines in Japan became central to the economic and social strategy of the eighth shogun Yoshimune after he assumed power in 1716. [...]

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China and Korea were naturally eager to retain their monopolies of this precious commodity, and strictly banned all export of live plants and seeds. They jealously guarded as well against theft of mature roots: contemporary Chinese histories, for example, record that the prisons of Shenjing (present day Shenyang) overflowed with ginseng poaching suspects. So many were caught, indeed, that the legal bureaucracy couldn’t keep up. 

In 1724, the alarming numbers of suspected poachers who died in prison while awaiting trial led to the abandonment of the regular system of trials by judges dispatched from Beijing, and a shift to more expeditious reviews handled by local officials. [...]

Even in 1721. the secret orders that the shogunate sent the domain of Tsushima called for procuring merely three live plants [...]. Two other forays into Korea 1727 succeeded in presenting the shogun with another four and seven plants respectively. Meanwhile, in 1725 a Manchu merchant in Nagasaki named Yu Meiji [...] managed to smuggle in and present three live plants and a hundred seeds. [...]

Despite its modest volume, this botanical piracy eventually did the trick. By 1738, transplanted plants yielded enough seeds that the shogunate could share them with enterprising domains. [...] Ginseng eventually became so plentiful that in 1790 the government announced the complete liberalization of cultivation and sales: anyone was now free to grow or sell it.

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By the late eighteenth century, then, the geography of ginseng looked dramatically different from a century earlier.

This precious root, which had long been restricted to a small corner of the northeast Asian continent, had not only been found growing naturally and in abundance in distant North America, but had also been successfully transplanted and was now flourishing in the neighboring island of Japan. […]

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Colonial Americans, for their part, had developed their own new addiction: an unquenchable thirst for tea. […] This implacable need could have posed a serious problem. [...] [I]ts regular consumption was a costly habit.

Which is why the local discovery of ginseng was a true godsend.

When the Empress of China sailed to Canton in 1784 as the first ship to trade under the flag of the newly independent United States, it was this coveted root that furnished the overwhelming bulk of sales. Though other goods formed part of early Sino-American commerce – Chinese porcelain and silk, for example, and American pelts – the essential core of trade was the exchange of American ginseng for Chinese tea. [...]

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Yoshimune’s transplantation project had succeeded to the point that Japan actually became a ginseng exporter. As early as 1765, Zhao Xuemin’s Supplement to the compedium of material medica would note the recent popularity of Japanese ginseng in China. Unlike the “French” ginseng from Canada, which cooled the body, Zhao explained, the “Asian” ginseng (dongyang shen) from Japan, like the native [Korean/Chinese] variety, tended to warm. Local habitats still mattered in the reconfigured geography of ginseng. [...]

What is place? What is time? The history of ginseng in the long eighteenth century is the story of an ever-shifting alchemical web. [...] Thanks to the English craving for tea, ginseng, which two centuries earlier had threatened to bankrupt Japan, now figured to become a major source of national wealth [for Japan] .

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Text by: Shigehisa Kuriyama. “The Geography of Ginseng and the Strange Alchemy of Needs.” In: The Botany of Empire in the Long Eighteenth Century, edited by Yota Batsaki, Sarah Burke Cahalan, and Anatole Tchikine. 2017. [Bold emphasis and some paragraph breaks/contractions added by me.]

[sunnydayaoe]

drew the guys !!

[orpheuslament]

when will suzanne take me down to her place near the river

[lululeighsworld]

and for Gunter's birthday fic this year I finally ended up writing Leigh's love confession to him; I promise his birthday is relevant!! 💜❤️

Read the story here on AO3

[whereistheonepiece]

Tomorrow is Zoro's birthday in my time zone so to celebrate my special little guy's bday I will attempt to work on my fic bc the next chapter is in his POV.

I say attempt bc I have been soo exhausted since 11/6. Can hardly get anything done aside from work. Hm. Must be unrelated to any current events.

[deepwoundsandfadedscars]

An aunt from the States is visiting this week and she brought some gifts for me, which is ten bone china teacups and a couple shelves that are specifically for displaying teacups 😍 the part of my soul that is a 70-year-old lady is very happy this week

[reeselovesfoblog]

FOVEMBER BABY!

Participating f/os are….

Riff Raff

Magenta

Penny

Rudi

Louie

Myself/my s/is are handing over the blog to these five for the month so they can answer any questions you may have!

Have fun!

(Idea was by @cherry-bomb-ships I think! Let me know if I got it wrong)

[flannelepicurean]

Karate's Bad Boy Mike Barnes

Okay, I FINALLY, LITERALLY, ACTUALLY got around to watching The Karate Kid Part III, and first off, this film is an absolute GIFT. I have...so many. Just so many. But I really needed to take the time to address a big point that was brought up by the excellent friendo who made sure I could see TKK3. Here you go:

I don’t think Mike Barnes is actually that bad of a karate boy.

I know what the article said. I saw the picture. It does indeed beg the question, “What did he do to get an entire article written about him, with the headline, Karate’s Bad Boy, Mike Barnes, emblazoned over THAT PHOTO? What deeds did he do that made him exactly the right candy to tickle the fancy of a towering toxic waste billionaire in a single-serving hot tub?”

Here are some FACTS, my sweet Cadbury snake eggs.

Mike Barnes is not karate’s bad boy, and he never was. Terry Silver is. You know it. I know it. Everyone in LA knows it. Mike Barnes knows it. And the minute he laid eyes on that shoujo-manga villain from afar, he was like, “I’m gonna sweep the leg on that man’s heart and get swept off my feet into a billionaire romance novel. [Dramatic turn] But HOW…”

Next thing you know, he’s storming into the HQ of The Karate Times to rock them like a hurricane, demanding they write an article about how he’s Karate’s Bad Boy. They scoff at him because, no, TERRY SILVER is karate’s bad boy. What, did you just get off the bus from turnip town?

And Mike is like, I dunno, “Actually, Kalamazoo, and I’ve been here for a couple years, but THAT’S NOT THE POINT, MAN! YOU GOTTA WRITE THAT ARTICLE!!!”

And the editor, whose name is Paulie, is like, “Why? You already knocked over Denise’s typewriter and a filing cabinet. Why would we do anything for you?”

And Mike’s like, “BECAUSE…[breathing with maximum nostrils] BECAUSE… [eyes becoming shiny] ...because…” And then he breaks down anime-style about how he needs senpai to notice him so he can do an elaborate scheme to win the heart of a billionaire villain.

Paulie and the entire staff lean forward like, “Wait…you’re saying that…you…and Terry Silver…”

Mike looks up. Fingers snap a jaunty rhythm in the background, and his eyes glow like prom-night lights as he begins to explain, “He…he…” A basso voice drops a jelly-bouncing, “JITTERBUG,” into the soundtrack. Mike’s grin twinkles. “Just…awakened something, I guess…”

JITTERBUG.

Paulie slams his palms on his desk and rockets to his feet, hollers, “Why didn’t ya say so?! If you say you can break boards…let’s go see if you can break hearts.”

Mike looks around as the staff mobilize with gusto, hardly believing his luck. “Really? You’ll help me?!”

Paulie spreads his arms wide. “This is KARATE TOWN, kid! We do wacky shit like this all the time! Come on, let’s get you a PHOTO SHOOT!” Mike follows the staff to a warehouse area off the side of the office, where the lights are bright and the possibilities are endless, breathes with amazement, “Wow, so many punching bags…”

He hits that high with all the kicks. So many beats per minute on those punching bags. Puts the boom boom into everyone’s hearts and goes bang-bang-bang until Paulie shouts, “THAT’S IT! THAT’S THE ONE! START THE PRESSES!!!”

The building’s doors WHAM open a few hours later, and Mike steps out, a big stack of newsprint headshots clutched to his chest, his smile as dazzling as the California afternoon as he twirls like Mary Tyler Moore and releases them like doves or parade confetti into the air, then goes skipping down the sidewalk toward his destiny.

A cop snatches one from the air and calls, “Hey! That’s littering!”

Paulie sidles up next to him and warns, “Careful, Arnie—that’s karate’s bad boy, Mike Barnes.”

Arnie rolls his eyes. Scoffs, “C’mon. Terry Silver’s karate’s bad boy.”

Paulie gazes off at the trail of litter in Mike’s wake, a twinkle in his eye, and a gnomish smile on his face. “Not anymore.”

Arnie looks down at the picture in his hand: A sharp face, and fists poised, a mean mug like a mad mongoose, ready to take on a snake ten times his size. Raises a brow. Remarks, “Wow.” Turns to Paulie. “You’re gonna be busy.”

Paulie shrugs. “Denise is already workin’ on a wedding feature and a couple obituaries.”

Arnie shakes his head. “You picked the right town to do business.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Paulie chuckles. “It’s freakin’ bonkers here.”

[many-gay-magpies]

my dad sent me a video of this one specific type of pottery im obsessed with, not knowing beforehand that i was obsessed with it, and now its taking a large portion of my willpower not to send him all the coolest videos of that type of pottery i can find

[sleepypotatostudio]

Today is Chinese Appreciation Day, they invented fireworks!!!

[xxinsertuserherexx]

Received a little guy today 👍

[reeselovesfoblog]

I’ll do this for my secondary ships next but first up, my primary 5!

[abyssalpriest]

It is so fucking wild knowing Lev spends a lot of time in Asia (purposely vague because he's in various parts) both as himself and in incarnations, and appears to our group as Asian (same vagueness) in his like "this is me in a genuine, familial way". And then like. Watching videos from/about people in the countries he frequents like what the fuck these cultural things are so you