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Snow Chrysanthemum Tea, grown at high elevations and supposedly good for your health, was the subject of speculative manipulation that pushed the price to 20,000 RMB, or about USD 3,150, per kilogram in 2011.
A kilo of Snow Chrysanthemum Tea now goes for 30 RMB, or about USD 4.50.
You can buy some (now overpriced) Snow Chrysanthemum Tea on eBay, if you want a drink that is “good for blood pressure and blood fat” and:
contains 18 kinds of amino acids and 15 kinds of trace elements which are beneficial to health and have
special effects on blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar, coronary heart disease. And it good
for sterilization, anti-inflammatory, colds prevention, chronic enteritis and also insomnia.
Snow Chrysanthemum, known in Chinese as 雪菊, 蛇目菊 or 昆仑雪菊 among other names, is the Sanvitalia procumbens plant.
This Chinese article 新疆雪菊每公斤2万跌至30元 企业硬撑待转机_网易财经 has some of the gory details about the manipulation and the victims, many of whom are farmers in Xinjiang.
China has plenty of crazy agricultural speculation, from mung beans to Pu’er tea. Some observers will likely argue that financial repression policies led investors to search for higher yielding, speculative investments. More likely, the Snow Chrysanthemum crash is about greed, ignorance and information manipulation, three elements that pervade Chinese society.
The common name of Sanvitalia procumbens? The creeping zinnia plant.
Thanks for reading. The best way to read Sinocism and the Sinocism China Newsletter is to subscribe by email, especially if you are in China, as Sinocism is blocked by the GFW. You can also follow me on Twitter @niubi or Sina Weibo @billbishop.