A. Sutherland – AncientPages.com – After four months, Scottish botanist Robert Fortune arrived in Shanghai, China. It was a hot September day in 1848, but he had no time to rest. Fortune had to disguise herself as a Chinese official, adopting the local look, dress, speech and behavior to create a new identity.
His mission was dangerous: he was to steal 13,000 camellia sinensis tea plants from China and take them to India on behalf of the British East India Company.
He changed his name to Sung Wang (meaning “Magnificent Flower”), shaved his head, grew a pigtail, learned to eat with chopsticks, spoke Mandarin, and wore Chinese clothes to blend in with the locals. He was even brave enough to fight off pirates who attacked him during one of his voyages.
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