Is this an indicator of a move towards more Western types of consumption (i.e. coffee) in Taiwan and Shanghai? Or perhaps it reflects areas of with larger populations of coffee-drinking expatriates? Or -- in a completely unwarrented, speculative and highly alarmist vein -- it could be a sign of an impending trade war (reminiscent of the Opium Wars) in which Caramel Frappuccinos are used to balance the western (largely American) trade deficit.
The answers are unclear, but we can explore the data further by comparing the relative visibility of references to "tea" and "coffee" in English and Chinese:
What we see here is that while there is unsurprisingly more Chinese content referencing both tea and coffee in most parts of the region, there are interestingly more references to tea in English in large parts of rural China. Many of these blue blotches of English-language references are actually layered over tea plantations in the south of the country. It is possible though that the English-language references to tea tells us more about Internet content in China than hot green or black beverages. In almost all of the cases in which there is more English-language content, it is because the English word ("tea") receives only one hit while the Chinese word ("茶") receives none. So, the explanation for these differences could simply be that Google has just not got around to indexing local content throughout much of rural China.
In any case, next time you hear some use the phrase, "not for all the tea in China" point them to these maps so they have a better sense of what they're giving up.
Thanks to Han-Teng Liao for the help with this post.
I can help you out a bit with some insight onto Taiwan. Over the past ten years, the coffee drinking culture has exploded. I moved to Taipei in 2009 and was amazed at the number of coffee shops. There are quite a few Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks(thankfully not at the same density as in the US). In fact, Starbucks is a fairly high status place to drink. There are also several local chains - Mr. Donut, Dante, Mr. Brown, amongst others. In Taipei, near National Taiwan University, (the main university of the country) there are scores of little coffee shops such as one would find in any university area in the States. I currently live in Southern Taiwan, in Kaohsiung (the main port of the country) and while the coffee culture isn't as strong as the North it is still noticeable. This having been said, Taiwan produces some of the finest tea in the world and is in no danger of loosing its tea culture. Hey, a quick question. How much is a grande coffee of the day at Starbucks now?
ReplyDeleteWould be interested in seeing the other 2/3 of China. Might hypothesize that with different cultural influences in the western part of the country the map may be a bit redder than in the east though time series analysis might show an increasing blue influence
ReplyDeleteI find it surprising that there's more references to coffee in Taiwan. Must be a rebellious thing.
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