About JeffFuchs
Having lived for a decade in Yunnan, Fuchs’ work has centred on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories along with an obsessive interest in tea.
Fuchs is the author of 'The Ancient Tea Horse Road' (Viking-Penguin) and he was the subject of 'The Tea Explorer' documentary based on his exploration of the Tea Horse Road.
His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in publications such as Kyoto Journal, TRVL, and Outpost Magazine, as well as The Spanish Expedition Society, The Earth, Silkroad Foundation, The China Post Newspaper, The Toronto Star, The South China Morning Post, and UNESCO amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America, and Asia. Fuchs served as Asian Editor at Large for five years at award-winning Outpost magazine.
Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures.
His recently released book ‘The Ancient Tea Horse Road’ (Penguin-Viking Publishers) details his 8-month groundbreaking journey traveling and chronicling one of the world’s great trade routes, The Tea Horse Road. Fuchs is the first westerner to have completed the entire route stretching almost six thousand kilometers through the Himalayas a dozen cultures.
Fuchs partnered with Wild China to create a journey along the Tea Horse Road which National Geographic Traveler called one of the "50 Trips of a Lifetime".
He is co-founder of Akahiao Nature Institute on the island of Hawai'i along with his wife, Julie Rogers.
Much of the Tea Horse Road’s great appeal is the sheer expanse of geography taken in – some estimate (as we did when our team traveled it) that five thousand grand kilometres taking in rafts of culture, language, diet, altitude … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Tea
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Tagged Ancient Tea, Ancient Tea Horse Road, Ancient Tea Trade, Ancient tea trees, Assamica, Cha Ma Gu Dao, hani, Himalaya Trade Route, Horse and Tea Trail, Indigenous culture, Jeff Fuchs, lahu, nomadic communities, Nomads, pulang, southwestern Yunnan, Tea, tea caravans, Tea Horse Road, Tea Horse Trails, Tea Road, Tea Route, tea trade, Tibet, Tibetan nomads, Tibetan trade routes, Trade, Trade Route, Trekking in the Himalayas, Wa, Yunnan tea
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Jeff Fuchs will speak at Beijing International Society speaking about the lost nomadic route of salt: “In Search of White Gold – The Ancient Himalaya Salt Route”, September, 8, 2011 here
Posted in Explorations, Media
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Tagged Amdo, Explore, Himalayan Resource, Himalayan Salt Route, Himalayan Trade, Jeff Fuchs, Nomadic Route of Salt, Qinghai, Salt, Sustainable exploration, Tibet, Tibet trade, Trek, Tsa, Tsalam, Wild China Explorer of the Year 2011
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Guest blog post for David Lau’s Asha Tea House in California on tea’s very simple and understated origins in southwestern Yunnan – Pulang Mountain – here
Posted in Tea
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Tagged ancient tea culture, Ancient tea trees, Indigenous tea culture, Jeff Fuchs, Jeff Fuchs guest tea blog, Pu'erh, puer, Puer tea culture, tea culture, tea exploration, Yunnan tea, Yunnan tea culture
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Gansa is no more – back to Xining and onto one of those bizarre 15 hour bus rides that become like their own little worlds. Bunk beds and cell phones everywhere and a populace of forty-five or so that … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Amdo, China travel, Expedition, exploration, Explore, Jeff Fuchs, Kham, Khampa, Nomad, Nomadic culture, Nomadic Tent, Qinghai, Qinghai travel, tibet travle, Travel, Zado
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Days of wandering the mountains and the sturdy nomadic corridors of Qinghai and Gansu have brought Taiwan’s world of lush Oolongs to my mind, though there are little external or obvious links…perhaps it is simply a ‘thirst’. Years have passed … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea
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Tagged Amdo, Dong Ding Oolong, Dong Ding Oolong Tea, Expedition, exploration, High Mountain Oolong, Jeff Fuchs, Luku, Nantou County, Oolong, Qinghai, Taiwan Mists, Taiwan Tea, Tea, Tea Harvest, Tea picking, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Tung Ting, Wulong
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Qinghai or for the Tibetans, Amdo – Michael and I have entered from the eastern Gansu border by that ‘everywhere’ mode of transportation in this part of the world, the bus. The struggle is as usual present; coming out of … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Amdo, China travel, Expedition, exploration, Gansa, Horse Race, Horse Racing Festival, Horses, Jeff Fuchs, Nomadic Horse Race, Nomads, Qinghai, railway, Tibet, tibet travel, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Yak, yaks
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Delighted to be the opening speaker at the Bookworm’s Explorer Series this coming August 2011, in Beijing. Privileged to be able to share. Will be talking (and on occasion ranting) about two routes (and their precious people and memories) … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Media, Mountains, Tea
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Tagged Ancient Tea Horse Road, China travel, Expedition, exploration, Himalayan Trade, Indigenous tea culture, Jeff Fuchs, northwestern yunnan, Puer tea culture, sacred mountains of Tibet, Tea Horse Road, Tea Horse Trails, tea trade in Asia, tibet travel, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Yunnan tea culture
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Informality amongst nomads, and that feeling of immediate and informal acceptance comes from their own necessary and inevitable informality amongst themselves. Sickness, births, joy and efforts are shared in real time every day of every season. Bonds are strong … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Amdo, China travel, drokpa, dropa, Expedition, exploration, Gansu, Jeff Fuchs, Nomad, Nomadic culture, ritual, tibet food, tibet travel, Tibetan food, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Valley, Yak, yak herd, yak history, yoghurt
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The man we pick up in Nyimalung has the calm eyes and weathered face that the mountains create and sculpt almost at will. Songjem is in his early sixties and his face and countenance have a lived in quality that … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Amdo, China travel, China's frontiers, Expedition, exploration, Gansu, Golog, Golok, Himalayas, Huang He, Jeff Fuchs, Ma Chu, Maqu, Mountain, mountains, Nomads, Qinghai, sacred mountains of Tibet, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Yak, yaks, Yellow River
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Michael and I are back in our beloved hinterlands driving deep into the nomadic territories of Gansu province. Continuing my travels into the frontiers to witness a very special way of life change. In this part of the world at … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Amdo, Expedition, exploration, Gansu, goodies, highlands, Hui Muslims, Jeff Fuchs, Lanzhou, Linxia, lush greens, Maqu, Michael Kleinwort, Mosque, Nomads, Qinghai, rolling mountains, sacred mountains, tibet travel, Tibetan, Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, Trade, Tsalam
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