Philadelphia and the China Trade, 1682-1846: Commercial, Cultural, and Attitudinal Effects - Hardcover

Goldstein, Jonathan

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0271005122 ISBN 13: 9780271005126

Publisher: Metalmark Books, 1990

Synopsis

Philadelphia merchants had strong ties with their Chinese counterparts for almost a century before American Independence and for 164 years before the establishment of diplomatic relations or other official contacts. This book traces the evolution of those ties. The story begins with the establishment of the port of Philadelphia, which soon became America's largest, and ends with the first Sino-American treaty, which restructured the earlier informal relationships and signaled a decline in trade between the Delaware estuary and the China coast.

In its heyday Philadelphia controlled about one-third of the United States trade with China, and the traders' profits provided substantial capital for industry and public institutions. As Hilary Conroy writes in his foreword: "The author began his research by immersing himself in the then recently opened Stephen Girard Papers. He found, somewhat to his surprise, that they did not seem to forecast the racism which was later to poison American-Chinese relations." The author concludes that Sino-American relations have never been significantly improved over those manifested in Philadelphia's old China trade.

About this title

About the Author

Jonathan Goldstein won the Watts Prize at the University of Pennsylvania, where he took his PhD. He has written for Korea Focus and Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i.

Edition details

• Publisher: Metalmark Books
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0271005122
• ISBN 13: 9780271005126
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 150