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# THE HANKOW STEAMER TEA RACES
T. J. LINDSAY*
Clipper ships, with their vast spread of canvas, racing home with the season's China teas have earned the admiration of artists and the narrative skill of many authors. But the steamer tea races from Hankow have attracted much less attention. Endurance of the crews aloft in clippers catches the imagination more than the endurance of the stokehold gangs, and the development of reliable and fast ocean-going steamers is not as picturesque a subject as that of the sailing ship.
Nevertheless, at the time, the annual steamer tea race from Hankow caused excitement enough in Far Eastern waters. Although steamers also sailed laden with tea from Foochow and from Japan, it was the race from the centre of China, with the first hazardous leg down the Yangtsze to Woosung, that held the public interest. Until 1869, when the Suez Canal was opened, the Clipper ship could hold its own with the steamer service to China via the Cape. But the much shorter route afforded by Suez, which cut across the wind routes and so was suitable only for steamers, meant the end of sailing vessels in the high-value cargo eastern trade.
The steamer tea races resulted in a reduction of transit time from Hankow to London from sixty-one days in 1870 to thirty-one days in 1883 (see Table I), although in later years a few more days were added to the passage. The account of the races in the following pages covers the eleven-year period from 1877 to 1887.
Every year in the beginning of May came Hankow's short period of excitement and glory. The tea buyers from Shanghai and England, the chuszes,† arrived to pit their wits against the Chinese
Mr. Lindsay joined Butterfield and Swire in Shanghai in 1933. He studied Chinese in Peking in 1934, served in Shanghai and Tsingtao, and was interned in Shanghai during the Pacific War. He was transferred to the firm's Hong Kong office in 1949 and was Staff Manager until he retired in 1966. He was a Councillor and Hon. Treasurer of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society until his retirement, and is M.A.
† The newspapers use chaszes without characters. Matthews Dictionary gives ch'a shih (*) as the name for tea-tasters. The tea-taster was usually the tea-buyer, so perhaps the phrase "tea-merchant" would best cover it.
44
THE HANKOW STEAMER TEA RACES
T. J. LINDSAY*
Clipper ships, with their vast spread of canvas, racing home with the season's China teas have earned the admiration of artists and the narrative skill of many authors. But the steamer tea races from Hankow have attracted much less attention. Endurance of the crews aloft in clippers catches the imagination more than the endurance of the stokehold gangs, and the development of reliable and fast ocean-going steamers is not as picturesque a subject as that of the sailing ship.
Nevertheless, at the time, the annual steamer tea race from Hankow caused excitement enough in Far Eastern waters. Although steamers also sailed laden with tea from Foochow and from Japan it was the race from the centre of China, with the first hazardous leg down the Yangtsze to Woosung, that held the public interest. Until 1869, when the Suez Canal was opened, the Clipper ship could hold its own with the steamer service to China via the Cape. But the much shorter route afforded by Suez, which cut across the wind routes and so was suitable only for steamers, meant the end of sailing vessels in the high value cargo eastern trade.
The steamer tea races resulted in a reduction of transit time from Hankow to London from sixty-one days in 1870 to thirty-one days in 1883 (see Table I), although in later years a few more days were added to the passage. The account of the races in the follow- ing pages covers the eleven year period from 1877 to 1887.
Every year in the beginning of May came Hankow's short period of excitement and glory. The tea buyers from Shanghai and England, the chuszes,† arrived to pit their wits against the Chinese
Mr. Lindsay joined Butterfield and Swire in Shanghai in 1933. He studied Chinese in Peking in 1934, served in Shanghai and Tsingtao and was interned in Shanghai during the Pacific War. He was transferred to the firm's Hong Kong office in 1949 and was Staff Manager until he retired in 1966. He was a Councillor and Hon. Treasurer of the Hong Kong Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society until his retirement, and is M.A.
† The newspapers use chaszes without characters. Matthews Dictionary gives ch'a shih (*) as the name for tea-tasters. The tea-taster was usually the tea-buyer, so perhaps the phrase "tea-merchant" would best cover it.
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