# all the tea in China

idiom

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/all-the-tea-in-china
Updated: 2026-08-10

## Meaning

Something very valuable or priceless.

## Examples

- I wouldn't sell my grandmother's ring for all the tea in China.
- I do not want to move away for all the tea in China.
- She loves that painting so much that she wouldn't part with it for all the tea in China.
- He refuses to work for that dishonest company again, even if they offered him all the tea in China.
- The scientist would not share her secret research results with the rival laboratory for all the tea in China.
- My brother says he would not go skydiving for all the tea in China because he is terrified of heights.
- The captain promised his crew that he would not abandon the sinking ship for all the tea in China, staying until everyone reached the lifeboats safely.
- The old farmer had refused developers for decades; his land meant more to him than all the tea in China.

## Origin

A late nineteenth-century British formation, the phrase relies upon the historical association between China and a vast, nearly unquantifiable export of tea. The idiom uses the sheer volume and substantial trade value of the Chinese tea crop as a metric for an amount of wealth so great as to be considered a redundant bribe.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.