Lucky Robert Project
2019
In 1849, a huge amount of Chinese rotten and moldy tea seedlings arrived in the tea garden of British East India Company(EIC) in Saharanpur, India. This is the largest transnational plant theft plan EIC did after exporting opium to China via Bangladesh, in order to solve the trade deficit in China and several commodities monopolized by China. And botanist Robert Fortune (1812-1880) is the most important hunter in the project.
Before the tea was freely traded and appeared in the cups of people from different living condition around the world, Fortune was the first foreigner to go into the Chinese tea-making process in the mountains of China. At the same time, he also broke the Chinese government’s protection to their "tea," smuggling tea seeds out of China. These seeds not only aggravated the gradual unbalanced trade relationship between the British empire and China. The mixed varieties of the original tea trees in India and Assam were also widely cultivated through the following colonial laws. Today, the Assam black tea we make in our cups has totally different appearances and tastes from then when the residents chewed it to boost their spirits.
In modern urban landscapes, the planting of plants is closely related to the flow of capital: people choose the appropriate plant to decorate the small balcony to recall the natural life that disappears after leaving the country.
Before Fortune “sneaked” tea trees to India, he also introduced many exotic Eastern flowers to the balcony of the British. Now these plants have fit in the local ecosystem and form a unique ecosystem.
When a plant become a product and crowd out the living spaces of other plants through transnational trade and genetic improvement, it also changes people's eating habits: In 2015, my grand aunt planted a special tomato in her balcony. The tomatoes are small and have bright colors. They are excellent decorations on the balcony. I picked up some and tasted them, and they were sour and awkward. The tomato is very different from those we can easily but in the market today to make lettuce salad. I thought this is a new species of horticultural plants. Later I learned that Taiwanese farmers used to widely planted and sell these tomatoes as a kind of fruits 20 years ago. My grandaunt kept some of the seeds in the warehouse until recent day and took them out again. I didn’t expect that we would have changed the taste preference of the fruit. People nowadays enjoy sweet tasted fruits, and when they have the old breed of tomato, the taste is almost unpleasant.
In the "Fortune Project", I hope to work with local botanists and identify edible wild plants in the city, making a paper copy of research record. And then I will cooperate with women in the local community, developing recipes for these plants together. Through online publishing, collecting plant documents and recipes, saving this special taste memory belonging to Pune Railway station. If Fortune is the tea fragrance stolen through the expanding empire and changed the map of tea for more than a hundred years, today I hope that this plan can once again bring out the issue of ecosystem changing, and "steal” back the taste of memory that belongs to the residents in the community.
Before the tea was freely traded and appeared in the cups of people from different living condition around the world, Fortune was the first foreigner to go into the Chinese tea-making process in the mountains of China. At the same time, he also broke the Chinese government’s protection to their "tea," smuggling tea seeds out of China. These seeds not only aggravated the gradual unbalanced trade relationship between the British empire and China. The mixed varieties of the original tea trees in India and Assam were also widely cultivated through the following colonial laws. Today, the Assam black tea we make in our cups has totally different appearances and tastes from then when the residents chewed it to boost their spirits.
In modern urban landscapes, the planting of plants is closely related to the flow of capital: people choose the appropriate plant to decorate the small balcony to recall the natural life that disappears after leaving the country.
Before Fortune “sneaked” tea trees to India, he also introduced many exotic Eastern flowers to the balcony of the British. Now these plants have fit in the local ecosystem and form a unique ecosystem.
When a plant become a product and crowd out the living spaces of other plants through transnational trade and genetic improvement, it also changes people's eating habits: In 2015, my grand aunt planted a special tomato in her balcony. The tomatoes are small and have bright colors. They are excellent decorations on the balcony. I picked up some and tasted them, and they were sour and awkward. The tomato is very different from those we can easily but in the market today to make lettuce salad. I thought this is a new species of horticultural plants. Later I learned that Taiwanese farmers used to widely planted and sell these tomatoes as a kind of fruits 20 years ago. My grandaunt kept some of the seeds in the warehouse until recent day and took them out again. I didn’t expect that we would have changed the taste preference of the fruit. People nowadays enjoy sweet tasted fruits, and when they have the old breed of tomato, the taste is almost unpleasant.
In the "Fortune Project", I hope to work with local botanists and identify edible wild plants in the city, making a paper copy of research record. And then I will cooperate with women in the local community, developing recipes for these plants together. Through online publishing, collecting plant documents and recipes, saving this special taste memory belonging to Pune Railway station. If Fortune is the tea fragrance stolen through the expanding empire and changed the map of tea for more than a hundred years, today I hope that this plan can once again bring out the issue of ecosystem changing, and "steal” back the taste of memory that belongs to the residents in the community.
1849年，一批腐爛發霉的茶樹苗從中國抵達了東印度公司位於印度薩哈蘭普爾（Saharanpur）的茶園，這是東印度公司繼將鴉片經由孟加拉出口到中國後，設法解決在中國的貿易逆差與被中國壟斷的數項商品裡，最大的跨國植物竊盜計畫，植物學家羅伯特．福均（Robert Fortune, 1812-1880）是計畫裡最重要的獵手。
在茶葉透過自由貿易出現在世界各地不同階層的人的杯子之前，福均是第一名深入中國山區紀錄製茶工藝的外籍人士，也同時是違背當時中國政府對於商品「茶」的保護法令，偷偷將茶樹種籽攜出中國的人。這批種子不但加劇了英國與中國間逐漸失衡的貿易關係，在印度與阿薩姆原始茶樹的混交品種也透過後來的殖民地法律強力推動而廣泛種植，如今，我們杯子裡製成阿薩姆紅茶的植物，已經與當年阿薩姆地區居民提振精神用的咀嚼物有著不同的外觀與味道。
在現代化的城市景觀當中，植物的栽種毋寧與資本的流動息息相關：人們選擇恰當的植物裝飾房屋延伸出的小陽台，用以想念自背離鄉村後消失的自然生活。在福均「偷渡」茶樹到印度之前，也曾為英國人的陽台引進諸多東方的奇異花卉，如今這些植物已經在當地的生態系統之中，另外形成了一個獨特的生態系。
當植物成為一項商品，並透過跨國貿易與基因改良排擠其他植物的生存空間時，也改變了人們的飲食習慣：2015年，我的姨婆在陽台上種植了一種特殊的蕃茄，這些番茄體積嬌小顏色鮮艷，簡直是陽台上絕佳的裝飾品。我摘取了一些品嘗，又酸又澀，與今日可以在市場上買來製作生菜沙拉的蕃茄截然不同，
我原本以為這是新品種的園藝植物，後來才知道二十多年前，台灣農民曾經大量種植這種蕃茄作為水果販售，姨婆將部分種子保留在倉庫之中直到最近才再次取出種植，沒想到人們對於水果的口味已經改變了，追求甜美味覺的我們重新嚐到舊品種的蕃茄時竟覺得簡直難以入口。
在《福均計畫》之中，我希望能夠與當地的植物學家一起合作，在城市當中識別出可以食用的野生植物，為這些野生植物留下紙本考察紀錄；再與當地的社區女性們共同工作，研究出以這些植物入菜的食譜，透過線上出版的方式，集合植物紀錄與食譜，將這份隸屬於Pune，Railway火車站周邊的特殊味覺記憶保存下來。如果說福均是透過擴張中的帝國「偷」出的茶香，並且改變了往後一百多年的飲茶地圖，今日我希望能夠藉由這個計畫再次正視被改變的生態系統，「偷」回原本屬於社區居民的味覺記憶。
在茶葉透過自由貿易出現在世界各地不同階層的人的杯子之前，福均是第一名深入中國山區紀錄製茶工藝的外籍人士，也同時是違背當時中國政府對於商品「茶」的保護法令，偷偷將茶樹種籽攜出中國的人。這批種子不但加劇了英國與中國間逐漸失衡的貿易關係，在印度與阿薩姆原始茶樹的混交品種也透過後來的殖民地法律強力推動而廣泛種植，如今，我們杯子裡製成阿薩姆紅茶的植物，已經與當年阿薩姆地區居民提振精神用的咀嚼物有著不同的外觀與味道。
在現代化的城市景觀當中，植物的栽種毋寧與資本的流動息息相關：人們選擇恰當的植物裝飾房屋延伸出的小陽台，用以想念自背離鄉村後消失的自然生活。在福均「偷渡」茶樹到印度之前，也曾為英國人的陽台引進諸多東方的奇異花卉，如今這些植物已經在當地的生態系統之中，另外形成了一個獨特的生態系。
當植物成為一項商品，並透過跨國貿易與基因改良排擠其他植物的生存空間時，也改變了人們的飲食習慣：2015年，我的姨婆在陽台上種植了一種特殊的蕃茄，這些番茄體積嬌小顏色鮮艷，簡直是陽台上絕佳的裝飾品。我摘取了一些品嘗，又酸又澀，與今日可以在市場上買來製作生菜沙拉的蕃茄截然不同，
我原本以為這是新品種的園藝植物，後來才知道二十多年前，台灣農民曾經大量種植這種蕃茄作為水果販售，姨婆將部分種子保留在倉庫之中直到最近才再次取出種植，沒想到人們對於水果的口味已經改變了，追求甜美味覺的我們重新嚐到舊品種的蕃茄時竟覺得簡直難以入口。
在《福均計畫》之中，我希望能夠與當地的植物學家一起合作，在城市當中識別出可以食用的野生植物，為這些野生植物留下紙本考察紀錄；再與當地的社區女性們共同工作，研究出以這些植物入菜的食譜，透過線上出版的方式，集合植物紀錄與食譜，將這份隸屬於Pune，Railway火車站周邊的特殊味覺記憶保存下來。如果說福均是透過擴張中的帝國「偷」出的茶香，並且改變了往後一百多年的飲茶地圖，今日我希望能夠藉由這個計畫再次正視被改變的生態系統，「偷」回原本屬於社區居民的味覺記憶。
