Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.s3.t3.3

v1.c6.s3.t3.3

*Classic of Tea* they faced many difficulties as actual tea-growers in China were reluctant to emigrate. Efforts were then directed to recruiting Chinese labourers from Penang and Singapore, even though many of them were not at all familiar with tea cultivation. A total of about 300 Chinese were sent to Assam to engage in tea cultivation. The first Chinese tea-grower came over to Assam in 1832 and worked in the Chubwa tea estate. The first export of tea to Britain made in India by Chinese cultivators took place in 1838. The Assam Tea Company was formed in 1839. With the invention of airtight Wardian cases, it became possible to transport hundreds of thousands of Chinese tea seedlings by sea to Calcutta via Hong Kong.