The tea route, read like a book
Thirty-two hand-drawn maps — nineteen tea regions and thirteen trade routes. From the Palace Gardens of Hangzhou to Kyakhta on the Russian border.
Three great roads
1700s – 1860s (height under the Qing)Великий чайный путь 万里茶道~11,000 km · Fujian → Moscow · 16 months one way
from 1842 (treaty ports after the Opium War), peak 1850–1920Морской чайный путь 海上茶路~16,000 km · Fujian/Zhejiang → London · 90–99 days by clipper, 30 by steamer
~600 CE (Tang) – 1950s · 1,400 yearsЧайно-конный путь 茶马古道~2,000+ km · Yunnan → Lhasa · 3–6 months per caravan
