Welcome to the inaugural episode of the China Vintage Hour.  Robert Fortune’s adventures were covered previously in the China History Podcast’s 10-Part History of Tea Series.  In this episode today we read excerpts from Fortune’s first book written about his maiden voyage to China from 1843 to 1845 as the appointed botanical collector for the Royal Horticultural Society. He was one of the first ones to penetrate into after the Treaty of Nanjing.

The book: "Three Years Wanderings in the Northern Provinces of China" published by John Murray, Albemarle Street, London, 1847