The Circulation of Tea: Merchants, Market Dynamics, and the Trade Network between China and Russia, 1727–1925

Abstract

For too long, the Westcentric narrative has portrayed Asia’s modern awakening as a result of Western intervention. It posits that Western powers opened the Asian markets, such as China’s, which were previously regarded as static and insular. However, this assumption ignores the pre-existing vibrant intra-Asian linkages, overstates Western agency in Asia’s modernization.

Challenging this paradigm, this study examines the Sino-Russian tea trade network from 1727 to 1925, as a compelling model to illustrate the continuous intra-Asian interactions, the agency of its actors, and profound impacts on regional modernization. In 1727, the Qing Empire and Russian Empire signed an equal treaty, establishing free trade at the town of Kiakhta. This agreement facilitated the emergence of a profit-driven tea trade network, through the dynamic agency of private merchants from both sides. Over the subsequent century, the robust tea exports generated vital capital that fueled Russian’s textile industrialization. It also concurrently fostered regional specialization in tea cultivation and labor division in China’s tea-producing regions, especially in Central China. Crucially, this tea trade network constantly adapted and responded to internal and external pressures amidst nineteenth-century globalization. After Hankow’s opening as a treaty port in 1861, the pre-existing network of Russian and Chinese merchants expanded their operations deeper into China’s interior as well as the Far Eastern region of Northeast Asian waters. By embracing a logistics revolution powered by steamships and railways, the merchants promoted a sustained circulation of capital and new technology within this network that not only propelled the modernization of Hankow and Central China but also nourished the commercial development of the Russian’s Far East. This dynamic network persisted until 1925, when the formal restoration of diplomatic relations between the Soviet and Beiyang governments ushered in a state-controlled monopoly. By reclaiming the history of the Sino-Russian tea trade network, this study effectively challenges the assumption of Asian passivity by the Westcentric lens. The evolution of this intra-Asian network provides strong evidence that the Asia’s modernization was not merely an external shock delivered by the West. Rather, it was continuous and adaptive progress that built upon pre-existing regional ties and integrated modern Western influences into its own enduring economies.

Date of Award	30 Apr 2026
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Yiwen LI (Supervisor) & May Bo CHING (Co-supervisor)