11.Not Only a Flower（315）

Lesson 11 Not Only a Flower

The tulip is the national flower of the Netherlands, and it's very special to the Dutch people.

Back in 1636, everyone in the Netherlands wanted this fancy and rare flower that was all the rage in Europe.

Lots of people started pouring money into tulips, and their price shot up twenty times in just a few months.

At the peak of the craze, one tulip bulb was as valuable as a small house.

The chance of making big money led many folks to save up just to buy tulips.

But, as always, the good times didn’t last, and soon the price of tulips crashed by 90%, leaving many broke.

Tea is the national drink of China, and people there have enjoyed it for thousands of years.

Chinese tea, a traditional export, has been sold worldwide.

Nowadays, people in China are getting excited about a special kind of tea.

This tea is unique because it can be pressed into bricks, making it last longer.

What's more, the longer you keep it, the more nutritious and flavorful it becomes, so its price goes up.

Because of this, folks selling these aged tea bricks are making a ton of cash.

The price has gone up ten times.

Right now, a 30-year-old tea brick that weighs about a pound costs around 20,000 Yuan.

Many think it's not just for drinking but also great as a gift or a collector's item, so its value could climb even higher.

Others argue that the tea's price has gone way beyond what it's really worth and suggest there’s a huge bubble.

It's true, the cost of anything can rise and fall, but lots of people are hoping to cash in before prices drop.

This is what you might call speculation.

For those in this line of work, life is definitely full of excitement.