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

By Jonathan A. Goldstein and Jonathan A. Goldstein

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.

• Format: Library Binding
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0271005122
• ISBN13: 9780271005126
• Release Date: November 1990
• Publisher: Penn State University Press
• Length: 150 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant! Dr.Goldstein is a rare genuis .

I have personnally known Dr.Jonathan Goldstein for more than fifteen years.He is without a doubt one of this centuries greatest historians ever. I honestly believe that he is the next greatest Morison to come down the pike in many years.I was priviledged and honored to have had Dr.Goldstein at Nasson Colege for The History Of Modern Russia and for Western Civilization. I want to take time out to say that if it were not for Dr.Goldstein my interest in History would be nill. Thank You.