Narratives of Free Trade and the Commercial Cultures of Early American Chinese Relations

3 - China of the American Imagination: Th e Infl uence of Trade on US Portrayals of China, 1820 to 1850

Figure 1.6 Ledger from VOC China Trade in 1789 showing Canton merchant Monqua’s (Cai Shiwen ) account balancing his debits and credits. Each entry is cross-referenced with the page number of where the transaction appears in the trade journal, and the trade journal page number was recorded in the ledger. All the companies kept balance sheets of each ship and/or each year’s trade in China, but not all of them kept accounts of individual commodities and merchants as shown here. Courtesy National Archives, The Hague: VOC 4444 fo. 4. Figure 1.7 Extract from a VOC document showing the average prices of Chinese exports and imports from 1786 to 1794. This information was often included in the general reports sent to directors each year. Courtesy National Archives, The Hague: OIC 196. Figure 1.8 Stowage chart for VOC ship Oosterbeek in China in 1760. The chart shows the sizes of chests and how many were needed in each layer, as well as the products they were to contain. The companies had specific procedures for the loading of each different sized ship so the export cargo to Europe could be maximized. Each chest was given a number, and their locations in the hull were recorded, so if there was damage or theft it could be determined how it might have happened, who loaded and unloaded the product, and who was responsible for its care during the passage home. If it could be determined that foul play was involved, companies could charge the loss to the ships’ officers who were responsible for that part of the cargo. Courtesy National Archives, The Hague: VOC 4387. Figure 1.9 Three large handwritten topical indexes of the VOC’s China Trade covering the years from 1756 to 1779. Courtesy National Archives, The Hague: VOC 4554-6. 3 China of the American Imagination The Influence of Trade on US Portrayals of China, 1820 to 18501 John R. Haddad In the 1830s, a young girl named Caroline Howard King made numerous visits to the East India Marine Society in Salem, Massachusetts. Since Salem was a thriving center of maritime commerce, ships departed daily for destinations all over the world. When sea captains returned home bearing artifacts , they deposited these in the Society’s museum—East India Marine Hall. The collection was especially strong in artifacts from China, India, the East Indies, and the Pacific Islands. The hall provided visitors with an intriguing way to experience Asia without venturing far from home. King relished her encounters with Asia. In fact, in memoirs composed later in life, she reminisced about the magical attraction that these exhibits held: the Museum had a mysterious attraction for me and indeed it was an experience for an imaginative child to step from the prosaic streets... into that atmosphere redolent with the perfumes from the east, warm and fragrant and silent, with a touch of the dear old Arabian Nights […] I [...] was greeted by the solemn group of Orientals [referring to several life-size statues] who, draped in eastern stuffs and camel’s hair shawls, stood opposite the entrance...the hours were full of enchantment, and I think I came as near fairyland as one can in this workaday world […] And in those days the Spice Islands seemed to lie very near our coast.2 King used the exhibits to compose a narrative of escapist pleasure. In her story, she escapes everyday life—the “prosaic streets” and the “workaday world” of Salem—and journeys to a strange and exotic land of “enchantment .” In short, this “imaginative child” used this eclectic assortment of Asian objects to enjoy an excursion to “fairyland.” 58 John R. Haddad Caroline Howard King’s behavior was far from unique. In considering American attitudes towards China, we often associate the nineteenth century with the ugly anti-Chinese sentiment that marred the Gilded Age. In doing so, we sometimes forget that, during the century’s earlier decades, Americans were more likely to gaze upon China with a combination of curiosity, affection , and wonder. Interestingly, China’s stock, so to speak, peaked during the years before the First Opium War (1839–42), a period in China’s economic history in which Western traders did not possess open access to China’s markets (Americans’ affection for the Chinese would not reach a comparable level until the...