Hunan, China, detail, Travel Album: China and Japan, early 20th century, gelatin silver print, Gift of Jerome Hanauer 1989.66.226 

This photograph shows a village dedicated to tea production and reinforces the album collector’s interest in Chinese daily life. Workers feature prominently in the scene. The caption on the back of the photograph indicates it was taken in the Hunan province, which then–as now–produced much of China’s tea. Beginning in the seventeenth century, tea became immensely popular in Europe and this demand fueled a global trade in the commodity. In the photograph’s background, people carry baskets full of tea leaves down hills covered in tea trees. On the right, two women shield their eyes from the sun as they approach the camera. In the foreground, a woman stands before tea leaves drying on bamboo sheets.