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.
Over the course of years since meeting Dorjè I’ve written and pondered much about him. “Part goat and a little part human” was how he was described to me. Perhaps sounds unfair but the goats’ abilities in the Himalayas are … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Asia history, Faces of the Himalayas, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, mountains, portrait, Tea, tea and mountains, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, trade routes, yunnan
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Ascending up to the Sho La Pass in northwestern Yunnan in May there would always be a chance of weather issues, but it would still be a surprise when, even at the relatively kind altitudes of 3000 metres, the skies … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Asia history, Asian History, Expedition, Himalayan travel, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, Snow, Tea, tea and mountains, tea history, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, Tea in China, trade routes
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On foot our team of four puttered and wandered west (often faintly lost) through the Nyanqen Tanghla mountains in Tibet towards Lhasa. Highlights seemed on some days to be every single breath and moment. On other days, the grind of … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Ancient Tea Horse Road, butter tea, Himalayan Faces, Himalayan Portrait, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, portrait, Pu'erh, Tea, tea and mountains, Tea Horse Road, Tibet, Travel
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It was here at the ‘first bend of the Yangtze’ in Yunnan province that the Mongolian armies of the Yuan Dynasty crossed the great waterway and would ‘take’ the previously independent region into the greater fold of the Middle Kingdom … Continue reading →
Posted in Mountains, Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Cha Ma Gu Dao, First Bend of the Yangtze River, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, Rivers, Shigu, tea custom, tea history, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, Yangtze River, yunnan
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Within the tidy remnants of a former ‘Tea and Horse Trade Office’ in Mingshan County, near Ya’an in Sichuan, Jamyan and I wandered for 25 bizarre and wondrous minutes. As we made our way in to the horse dung and … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Media, Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Ancient Tea Horse Road, Asia tea history, Cha Ma Gu Dao, Jeff Fuchs, Mingshan, Sichuan Tea, Tea, Tea and Horses, tea custom, tea history, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, tea trade, Ya'an
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Given the span of time and efforts to immerse in leaves and the lives connected to tea, there aren’t many more satisfying additions than starting up a tea column (in joyous collaboration with Outpost Magazine). These pieces will comprise ‘The Tea … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Tea, Tea Horse Road, The Tea Sessions
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Tagged chinese tea, Green Tea, Himalayan Tea, japan tea, Jeff Fuchs, Pu'erh, Tea, Tea Cups, tea history, Tea Journeys, Tea Moments, Tea People, Tea Pots, tea sessions, Tea Time, tea travel, The Tea Explorer, The Tea Sessions
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Not all stories of the Tea Horse Road were ones of grand expanses, snow caps, or buzzing tea sessions. A friend from the Yi minority invited me to visit his grandmother who had tales of her own to tell. She … Continue reading →
Posted in Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Cha Ma Gu Dao, China, Interview, Jeff Fuchs, Pu'erh, puer, Tea, tea custom, tea history, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, The Tea Explorer, yunnan, Yunnan Travel
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Blankets and ridges of green stimulant leaf lie in rows near Puerh. Here the leaf is entirely industry. Gorgeous industry, but still industry. Local Hani, Han, Yi, Lahu, and Dai pluckers shimmy through the humid air to pluck, pluck, and … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Tea, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Cha Ma Gu Dao, Jeff Fuchs, Pu'erh, puer, Tea, tea fields, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, tea leaves, tea sourcing, Tea Time, tea travel, yunnan
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Ponzera, or Benzilan as it is now known, is a small valley town in northwestern Yunnan that lies alongside a headwater stream of the Yangtze River. For its size and population, its contributions to the Tea Horse Road spanned vast … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged Ancient Tea Horse Road, Benzilan, butter tea, Jeff Fuchs, Ponzera, Tea, Tea Explorer, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, tea trade, The Tea Explorer, Tibet
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Yeshi and I shared tea with this old memory palace of time. Goat milk and butter were used instead of yak variations. The tea was deadly but his memories as he recounted the days of watching caravans along a portion … Continue reading →
Posted in Explorations, Mountains, Tea Horse Road
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Tagged butter tea, Cha Ma Gu Dao, Himalayas, Jeff Fuchs, mountains, portrait, Tea, tea and mountains, Tea Customs, Tea Expedition, Tea Horse Road, tea horse road chronicles, tea travel, The Ancient Tea Horse Road, The Tea Explorer film, Tibet, trade routes, Travel
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