TEA EXPORT

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 303, 17 August 1932, Page 3

TEA EXPORT

TRADE OF CHIEF CHINESE EXPORTING TOWN DECREASES. The Chinese city of Amoy, which lies about 500 miles south of Shanghai in the Fukien Province, and which has one of the best harbours in thje Pacific, was for a long time thie world's premier tea export centre, hut now its traffic is a mere trickle compared with the flow of the drifed leaves through the port in its palmiest days. It was from this oustanding tea town that the cargo was shipped in 1773, of which part was dumped into Boston harbour by American patriots during the celebrated "Boston Tea Party." But "Amoy's expanse of sheltered water floats few shipments to-day. The greatest blow to the trade came in 1894, when Japan took possession of Formosa (Taiwan), where most qf the Amoy tea originated. Tea from Fukien Province still finds its way to the world's teacups hy way of Amoy, but the quantity is a mere fraction of what it used to be. Amoy is situated on an island 35 miles in circumference, which lies three miles off the mainland of Fukien. Arms from the mainland and rows of small islands almost enclose an extensive bay which forms Amoy's admirable harbour. The city, composed of old and new towns, has not been much affected by Western architecture, except for a few warehouses and a handful of other business buildings. In its heyday, Amoy had a population of more than 300,000. With the passing of its trade the figure has dropped to 114,000.