The Tea Horse Road: China's Ancient Trade Road to Tibet

This is the first comprehensive visual documentation of the Tea Horse Road that takes the audience on a journey from the birthplace of the tea plant along the oldest trade route of tea in the world. It is also one of the oldest and highest trade routes. Accompanying Michael Freeman's spectacular photographers is text drawing on first-hand experiences, primary research and extensive archival research by Dr. Selena Ahmed. Starting in tea forests in the mountains of southern Yunnan, through Tibet and into India, it explores the rich cultural practices and biological diversity of the communities the Tea Horse Road passes. The audience gets to know the plants and people, the lives and landscapes experienced through the exchange of tea. The book places the historical Tea-Horse Road in a contemporary context through a discussion on current issues including biodiversity, livelihoods, organic farming, globalization, health, and antioxidants. The book should thus be attractive to a wide audience, not just tea enthusiasts, geographers, or naturalists. The authors are well-positioned to write this account as experts in their fields. Michael Freeman is one the most widely published photographers. He has published over120 books, was a leading photographer for Smithsonian for 3 decades, teaches courses on photography, and specializes on the cultures of South East Asia. Ethnobotanist Dr. Selena Ahmed specializes in tea research. She spent 4 years in Yunnan studying links between cultural practices, the environment, and human wellbeing associated with tea production and consumption. She is currently continuing research on tea at the Antioxidants Research Lab at Tufts University.