[Truncated abstract] Conventional historical research on the tea trade focussed on the trade between the United Kingdom and China up to 1937. Very little has been done on the tea trade between China and other regions such as colonial Singapore. In addition, the focus on the overseas Chinese community in Singapore has concentrated on two opposite ends of the social ladder the rich traders or merchants who came to dominate the political, economic and social life of the community, and the coolies or those in the working class and how the harsh reality of life in colonial Singapore often quashed any dreams they had of a better life. The key focus of this dissertation is a study of the trading links between a group of Chinese traders in Singapore and commodity producers in China. To date, research into Chinese traders in Singapore has focussed on their trade in products from British Malaya such as rubber and tin. This dissertation aims to steer away from this approach, and study the relationship between Fujian tea production and trade and the Chinese tea traders in Singapore . . . This dissertation, therefore, takes a two-pronged approach. First, it examines the conditions in Fujian tea production and trade since they were the key trading concerns of the Chinese tea traders in Singapore. Secondly, the dissertation examines the political beliefs and sense of patriotism among the Chinese tea traders in Singapore and their response to major events in their lives such as the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), the Japanese Occupation of Singapore (1942-1945), the Chinese Civil War (1945-1949) and self-government for Singapore from June 1959.