There's every chance you're completely right about China having seen the first cultivation of the tree - I was just attempting to be contentious myself, as you're no doubt aware. 
China takes up a huge chunk of Asia after all, and agriculture was at an advanced stage there pretty early on. I've just spent too much time around Sino-supremacists and enjoy debunking some of the insane myths they tend to come out with that tend to cast China as the cradle of all human achievement.

China takes up a huge chunk of Asia after all, and agriculture was at an advanced stage there pretty early on. I've just spent too much time around Sino-supremacists and enjoy debunking some of the insane myths they tend to come out with that tend to cast China as the cradle of all human achievement.