印度茶业的历史与现状

Tea Industry in India, Past and present

中国是“茶叶的故乡”。茶叶又是中国历史上出口商品的大宗。十九世纪末期以前,华茶曾长期独占世界市场。现在世界上的茶业生产已发展到五大洲的五十多个国家。但溯本追源,各国饮茶习惯、种植技术和制造方法,皆直接或间接地由我国传去。印度茶业是十九世纪四十年代才开始兴起,但其发展却非常迅速。十九世纪七十年代,产量还不到中国的五分之一,但到1901年便超出中国而跃居世界第一位,并一直保持至今。

From this review one can see how India started the industry from scratchby importing seeds and technique from China in the 1780s when China wasby far the most important tea producing and exporting country on earth, andhow India developed the industry to the point of far surpassing China andleading the world in tea production, export and home consumption. Thewriter of this paper expresses his hope that necessary lessons should be drawnby China for the development of her tea industry.