The colloquial phrase all the tea in China is used in negative contexts to denote rejection, especially in not for all the tea in China, meaning: not in any circumstances.

This phrase occurs, for example, in These hopeless hopefuls are making the election a farce, by Tim Stanley, published in The Daily Telegraph (London, England) of Friday 11^th November 2011:

The race to become the Republican presidential candidate hit a new low on Wednesday night when Texas governor Rick Perry politically imploded dining a televised debate. The candidates were competing over the number of government departments they would abolish if elected. Perry jumped in and said that he would cut three: “Commerce, education and… and…” And, for all the tea in China, the poor guy couldn’t remember the third.

The phrase all the tea in China refers to China as a major producer of tea, and to tea as a commodity of great value.

Before the phrase all the tea in China came to denote rejection in negative contexts, it was particularly used in contrast to something regarded as of small value. The earliest occurrences of this use that I have found are as follows, in chronological order:

1-: From Rob Roy (Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; 1818), by the Scottish novelist and poet Walter Scott (1771-1832):

“I will bribe old Martha with a cup of tea to sit by me and be my screen.”
Martha, the old housekeeper, partook of the taste of the family at the Hall. A toast and tankard would have pleased her better than all the tea in China. However, as the use of this beverage was then confined to the higher ranks, Martha felt some vanity in being asked to partake of it.

2-: From Prison Roses, a short story by the Scottish author Amelia Gillespie Smyth (1788-1876), published in The Juvenile Forget Me Not. A Christmas and New Year’s Gift, or Birthday Present, for the Year 1830. Edited by Mrs. S. C. Hall (London: N. Hailes, Fred. Westley and A. H. Davis, and R. Jennings, [s.d.]):

‘I see the little girl is anxious to be off.’ ‘Please your honour,’ said Jane, ‘I’m in no great hurry, only—only—I’ve four miles to walk, and the children’s dinner to get, and granny’s tea to buy besides.’ ‘So it was to buy tea for granny you took to selling roses. Good girl, here’s a shilling instead of sixpence for you—run to the gaol and tell Martha that Mr. Dacres, of Ashleigh, is in town to befriend her; it will do her more good than all the tea in China.’

3-: From Chapter X of A Strange Drama, by the U.S. author Augusta Jane Evans Wilson (1835-1909), published in The Auckland Star (Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand) of Wednesday 15^th July 1891:

‘Perhaps a cup of tea will strengthen you?’
‘Thank you, dear, but I believe I prefer some cold water.’
She brought a tumbler of iced water, and a stool which she placed beneath his feet.
‘How delicious! worth all the tea in China; all the wine in Spain.’

The earliest occurrences that I have found of all the tea in China used to denote rejection in negative contexts are as follows, in chronological order:

1-: From Chapter III of Wanted a Wife; Or, Mat Wogan’s Matrimonial Venture, by the Irish author William Francis Lynam (c.1833-1894), published in The Irish Emerald (Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland) of Saturday 3^rd October 1891:

“You should have gone by the river, Mat.”
[…]
“But Kitty forgot the way, Reardon, she said.”
“As much, Mat, as the nose on her face. She knows every inch of the country for ten miles around better than the surveyor himself.”
“Dear me! I can’t understand it at all.”
“Well, you would if you were twenty years younger, Mat; take the hint.”
“She wanted me to go by the river, you think?”
“She wanted you to go to the best place for a bit of flirtation in the whole world; but you missed it. Go on, Mat.”
“We walked down towards the fort, and Kitty walked very slowly, and I tried to hurry her as the evening was falling quickly, and it was getting dark besides, and I didn’t like the tea to be kept waiting.”
“I wished you had the gout or lumbago, Mat, or something that would have kept you from being in such a divil [sic] of a hurry.”
“Do you think it was wrong to be in a devil of a hurry, Reardon?”
“Do I think it was wrong? Of course, man; what sort of a lover are you at all? Sure, it was a grand opportunity you had, man alive, that you oughtn’t to have given up for all the tea in China. Besides, the tea was certain not to be wet until you came in, although you were to stay out until the day of judgment.”

2-: From one of the unconnected paragraphs making up the column Echoes of the Week, published in The Referee (Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) of Wednesday 9^th November 1892:

Harry Giltinan says he wouldn’t live in Melbourne for “all the tea in China.”

3-: From The Amateur Fisherman’s Guide (Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and London: George Robertson & Co., 1895), by the Australian journalist Charles Thackeray (1867?-1938), Secretary of the Amateur Fishermen’s Association:

Mr. Gondolf and myself took one man down The Ladders who was a very difficult subject. It required a lot of driving to get him to the long rope, and when at least he tackled it he “kinder flew down” with his legs spraddled out, and hit the rock at the bottom pretty hard, and through slipping so fast the rope burnt his hands badly. Getting him up proved a dangerous task. […] How we got him up the short rope and the ladder I often marvel, but we did and when he got to the top of the cliffs he set off running away for a hundred yards, and sat down on some grass until our laughter brought him back; but he said that he had registered a fearful oath that “not for all the tea in China would he go down again.” There are certainly people who should keep as far away from cliffs as possible.

4-: From The Sportsman (Melbourne, Victoria, Australia) of Tuesday 27^th June 1899:

In Australia, where its value is known, the starting machine is in general use, and fully appreciated. All the tea in China and all the gold in the Klondike put together would not tempt us back to the ancient, played-out system now that we know the difference between the red flag and the barrier.

5-: From a letter, dated De Aar, South Africa, Thursday 4^th January 1900, written by Private L. J. West, of the Molong Mounted Rifles, to W. T. Job, of Maryland, Boomey, published in The Molong Argus (Molong, New South Wales, Australia) of Friday 23^rd February 1900:

Dear Sir,—This is the first chance I have had of writing to you since leaving Sydney. I thought I would have been able to do so from Capetown, but I had to go to the hospital suffering from inflammation of the bowels. I wouldn’t put in another fortnight like it for all the tea in China.

6-: From an Australian’s impressions of South Africa, published in The Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia) of Saturday 1^st December 1900:

“I often have a laugh when I think of the fun we had with the Kaffirs. I would not have missed the trip for all the tea in China.”

7-: From a letter, dated Pretoria, South Africa, Monday 22^nd October 1900, written by Trooper A. E. Loach to his father, T. E. Loach, published in The Waimate Advertiser (Waimate, Canterbury, New Zealand) of Tuesday 18^th December 1900:

Personally, I never felt better in my life, and would not have missed the experience for “all the tea in China.” I have seen every side of modern warfare. The infantry charges up very steep kopjes are very exciting, and you ought to see the Boers run. To see two or three batteries of artillery in action is a treat, and to be in a nice position, firing at Boers at 600 yards and bowling them over pleases your humble servant very much.

8-: From a letter, dated Commando Nek, South Africa, Tuesday 1^st January 1901, written by Trooper Thomas Green to his brother, J. J. Green, published in The Mataura Ensign (Gore, Southland, New Zealand) of Thursday 14^th February 1901:

We were attacked in the rear by about 4000 Boers, who opened a terrific rifle fire on us. In fact, those who have been through the whole campaign say it was the heaviest rifle fire during the war, and the shortest range, the firing being at 200 yds. I would not go through the same fire again for all the tea in China.

9-: From the account of the inquest into the railway disaster that occurred at Sydenham, New South Wales, on Friday 15^th February 1901—account published in The Daily Telegraph (Sydney, New south Wales, Australia) of Tuesday 5^th March 1901:

Gustav Griesbach, of Bexley, said that he often noticed the 5.55 p.m. travelling at a high rate of speed. On such occasions the engine oscillated very much, and seemed to draw the carriages by a succession of jumps—“like a fox terrier tugging at a chain.” He said, when he saw it travelling fast on one occasion, that he would not travel on it for “all the tea in China.”

10-: From an advertisement for Clements Tonic, consisting in the account, made by one Richard Hodnet, of Dunedin, New Zealand, of his illness and cure by Clements Tonic, published in the Lake County Press (Arrowtown, Otago, New Zealand) of Thursday 30^th May 1901:

“I became so debilitated that some days I could scarcely stand whilst I put on my clothes, and as for doing a day’s work—well, I could not have done it for all the tea in China.”