China and Japan
The main producers in the world
The first evidences of use and cultivation of camellia in China are about 5 000 years old. It was mainly tea, which is a species of camellia (thea sinensis or camellia sinensis). There is a long tradition of camellia growing in China and Japan, mainly in order to produce tea (C. sinensis) or oil (C. oleifera). In China, tea is an ancient beverage, drank long before our era. In Japan, tea is primarily an art of living, known initially through decorative objects. But, as in China, it is also an economic reality. Tea and oil were also produced.