Imitation and Innovation: The Rise of Tea-Related Industries in Britain
摘要
As the tea-drinking culture became increasingly popular, Eastern goods related to tea consumption quietly turned into essential elements of everyday life in Britain. This posed a significant challenge to local British industries, pushing them onto a path of product innovation. After undergoing imitation, replication, and innovative redesign, a series of new British products emerged, including internationally renowned brands like Wedgwood. By the end of the eighteenth century, the French term “Anglomania,” describing these modern, luxurious British consumer goods, gained popularity, thrusting “British design” to the forefront of the global market. Concurrently, seeking to establish trade relations, the British government decided to send an embassy to China in the late eighteenth century. Although the mission did not achieve the anticipated results, this journey heralded the declining fate of Chinese tea and porcelain in Europe.