About JeffFuchs
Bio
Having lived for most of the past decade in Asia, Fuchs’ work has centered on indigenous mountain cultures, oral histories with an obsessive interest in tea. His photos and stories have appeared on three continents in award-winning publications 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 Traveler amongst others. Various pieces of his work are part of private collections in Europe, North America and Asia and he serves as the Asian Editor at Large for Canada’s award-winning Outpost magazine.
Fuchs is the Wild China Explorer of the Year for 2011 for sustainable exploration of the Himalayan Trade Routes. He recently completed a month long expedition a previously undocumented ancient nomadic salt route at 4,000 metres becoming the first westerner to travel the Tsa’lam ‘salt road’ through Qinghai.
Fuchs has written on indigenous perspectives for UNESCO, and has having consulted for National Geographic. Fuchs is a member of the fabled Explorers Club, which supports sustainable exploration and research.
Jeff has worked with schools and universities, giving talks on both the importance of oral traditions, tea and mountain cultures. He has spoken to the prestigious Spanish Geographic Society in Madrid on culture and trade through the Himalayas and his sold out talk at the Museum of Nature in Canada focused on the enduring importance of oral narratives and the Himalayan trade routes.
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.
He makes his home in ‘Shangrila’, northwestern Yunnan upon the eastern extension of the Himalayan range where tea and mountains abound; and where he leads expeditions the award winning ‘Tea Horse Road Journey’ with Wild China along portions of the Ancient Tea Horse Road.
To keep fueled up for life Fuchs co-founded JalamTeas which keeps him deep in the green while high in the hills.
Sour Tea: The Indigenous World’s Treat Within the muggy mists of eastern Burma, amidst the toughened and muscular indigenous minorities of southern Yunnan there can still be found tea traditions that transcend any tea trends, eras or pretentious terms. There … Continue reading →
Posted in Tea
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Tagged burma, China travel, hani, indigenous, Indigenous tea culture, Jeff Fuchs, lahu, Pu'erh, puer, pulang, sour tea, southwest china tea, suan cha, Tea, tea history, tradition, yunnan, yunnan history, Yunnan tea
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The Route of White Gold When: May, 2011 Who: Jeff Fuchs, Michael Kleinwort Where: Southern Qinghai (Amdo) One of the ancient world’s great and unheralded trade routes was the eastern Himalayas’ Tsalam, or Salt Road. Known to many Tibetans as … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Media
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Tagged Amdo, Amne Machin, Amye Maqen, Honkor, Jeff Fuchs, Maqen, Maqu, Michael Kleinwort, Nomad, nomadic, Qinghai, Salt, Salt Road, Salt Route, Tea Horse Road, Trade, Tsa, Tsalam
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Many say snow is silent; I would say that snow silences and mutes like few other elements known, but it is not silent. Snow at altitude pops and pricks and it bounces in small booms especially when its good … Continue reading →
Posted in Mountains
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Tagged abujee, Expedition, Gyalthang, Indigenous culture, Jeff Fuchs, mountains, sacred mountain, sacred snow mountain, shangrila, shika, snow mountain, Tibetans, Trek, yi, Yunnan trekking, Zhongdian
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Silkwind magazine March/April 2011 Templar Tea Company – Tea blog with Jeff Fuchs Kyoto Journal Kyoto Journal II South China Morning Post Wild China blog Mr. Tea The Independent City Weekend Beijing Tea & Travel
Kilometres behind Shika landscapes become smudged white paintings – with a soundtrack of seething gusts. It is not only the increase in altitudes that seem to strengthen the storm. It is the journey leading further into the remote valleys. Temperatures … Continue reading →
Posted in Mountains
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Tagged china trekking, Expedition, exploration, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, Mountain, mountain trekking, northwestern yunnan, sacred mountains, sacred mountains of Tibet, Shangri-La, shangrila, Tibet, trekking, yunnan, Yunnan trekking, Zhongdian
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We are heading to one of Xiao Yang’s ‘uncle’s’ homes for a sitting and sipping of a potent new batch of sheng (raw/green/unoxidized) Puer. Here the black Pu’erhs are referred to as “candy”, something “useless” and worse – something that … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Tea
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Tagged Ancient tea tree tea, Ancient tea trees of Yunnan, Hani People, Indigenous tea culture, Jeff Fuchs, Lao Banzhang, Lau Banzhang, Pu'erh, puer, southwestern china, tea exploration, tea travel, Yunnan tea
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A blizzard ‘in waiting’ gains strength at 4,682 meters on the eastern extension of the Himalayas in northwestern Yunnan, China.
“Know when to rise and when to retreat if you wish to see another sunrise” – Himalayan muleteer saying – There are mountains that quietly come under the heading of ‘understated beauty residing in plain site’; Shika Mountain in northwestern … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains
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Tagged Ancient Tea Horse Road, China travel, exploration, horse and tea road, Jeff Fuchs, mountain exploration, northwestern yunnan, sacred mountain, sacred mountains of Tibet, sacred walks, Shangri-La, shangrila, Tea Horse Road, tibet travel
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It seems only fair that this first tea entry begins where the ‘green’ begins – tea’s humid and understated roots. Here, where tea has been nurtured virtually unchanged in all of the patient centuries and where still today the green … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Tea
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Tagged Aini People, ancient tea culture, Ancient tea trees, Ancient tea trees of Yunnan, Dai, Hani People, Indigenous tea culture, Jeff Fuchs, lahu, northwestern yunnan, Pu'erh, puer, Puer tea, Puerh tea, pulang, southwestern china, Tea, Tea Horse Road, Wa, Xishuangbanna, Yunnan tea
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