325 Benjamin Franklin Wanted to Visit China

Benjamin Franklin was deeply impressed by China. Due to the lack of direct communication between China and North American and later the fledgling United States, Franklin made his extra efforts to collect information on China wherever it was available. Unsatisfied with the books he read, he tried to contact people who had been to China.

In order to obtain knowledge on Chinese life and customs, he contacted the “sailors on the Packet who had previously made the trip to the China seas.” Franklin obtained “his knowledge of Chinese navigation from Captain Truxtun who in the following year himself made the voyage to China.” He even tried to visit China personally, and told his friend, “If he were a young man he should like to go to China.”