470. Ideas from the East: American Founders and Chinese Wisdoms

When the Empress of China, the first commercial ship of the United States, anchored the Chinese shore in August 1784, the Chinese merchants quickly realized that the crew members were not British. The crew members were, in fact, Americans from the newly established United States—China’s newest trading partner. By sea the journey had taken over half a year. For the United States, China was still a far-away land. 

Yet in spite of the great distance between these two nations, Chinese culture strongly influenced the fledgling United States. Five years ago Virginian Review of Asian Studies published my study of China’s tangible cultural influence on the United States[1]. 

It has been noted that America’s founders loved particular Chinese ideas and used them help their efforts to build a new nation in North America around the founding era. In this essay, I will introduce the particular Chinese ideas that were introduced to America as they laid the philosophical and cultural foundation of the United States.

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[1] Dave Wang, Chinese Civilization and the United States: Tea, Ginseng, Porcelain ware and Silk in Colonial America,  Virginia Review of Asian Studies, 2011.