When America First Met China

choi

John Steele Gordon, When Trade Tipped the Other Way. The huge profits that 19th-century traders made by selling furs, pelts and other luxuries to China helped fuel America's expansion. Wall Street Journal, Oct 13, 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 38314179988832.html
(book review on  When America First Met China

Eric Jay Dolin, When America First Met China; An exotic history of tea, drugs, and money in the Age of Sail. Liveright, 2012)

Quote:

"the 13 colonies took no part in this business [China trade]. The British East India Co had a monopoly on trade with China, and only in February 1784, the year after a peace treaty with Britain established American independence, did direct links between the United States and China begin.

"China's economy was more developed than that of the West until well into the 18th century, and there was little, other than such luxuries as fur [of sea otters and seals] or sandalwood, that traders could offer the Chinese. The West ran big trade deficits with China in the 18th century.

Note:
(a) The above subtile appears in the online version. In print the subtitle is: Lopsided treaties were imposed on China, including one forcing the cession of Hong Kong. The humiliation is keenly felt to this day.
(b) Empress of China (1783)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empress_of_China_(1783)
(section 1 First voyage)
(c) cordage (n): "ropes or cords; especially : the ropes in the rigging of a ship"
www.m-w.com
(d) ginseng
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginseng
(Ginseng is found only in the Northern Hemisphere * * * typically in cooler climates; Panax vietnamensis, discovered in Vietnam, is the southernmost ginseng known; section 6.1 P. quinquefolius American ginseng (root))

(e) For nankeen trousers, see nankeen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nankeen
(a kind of pale yellowish cloth, originally made at Nanjing from a yellow variety of cotton, but subsequently manufactured from ordinary cotton which is then dyed)
(f) sandalwood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandalwood
(g) John Jacob Astor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Jacob_Astor
(born Johann Jakob Astor; 1763-1848; a German-American business magnate; first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-millionaire in the United States; arrived in US in 1784, first traded furs with Indians; section 1.2 Fortune from fur trade)
(h) The review states, "Because of the long voyages (during which tea deteriorated), the China trade also led directly to the development of the clipper ship, which had a vast sail area and a long, narrow, deep-drafted hull that sacrificed cargo space for speed. These swift and graceful ships were the culmination of the age of sail. On her second voyage, in 1845, Rainbow, generally considered the first clipper, did the round trip between New York and Canton in an astounding 6½ months."
(A) clipper
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clipper
(section 1 Origin of the nautical term "clipper"; in 1845 the Rainbow, the first extreme clipper[,] was launched in New York; section 3 China clippers and the epitome of sail: Opium was also imported into Britain and was not prohibited because it was thought to be medically beneficial)

Quote: "The boom years of the Clipper Ship Era began in 1843 as a result of the growing demand for a more rapid delivery of tea from China. It * * * ended with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869."
(B) draft (hull)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_(hull)
(C) Age of Sail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Sail
(i) extraterritoriality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterritoriality
(section 1 Historical cases: paragraphi about republics of Genoa and Venice in Constantinople)
(j) The "cession" is noun of verb "cede."
(k) The graphic came from Mystic Seaport Museum.
(A) Mystic Seaport
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystic_Seaport
(in Mystic, Connecticut;notable for its collection of sailing ships and boats)
(b) Mystic, Connecticut
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystic,_Connecticut
(a village on the Mystic River)