446. Philadelphia and China

Philadelphia, US founder, Benjamin Franklin's adopted hometown, is famously, a city of first. It established the first library, first zoo, first university, first fire department and so on. It is also the first city that published Confucius works. It was in 1737 that Franklin published some chapters of Confucius moral works in his widely circulated Pennsylvania Gazette in North American colonies.

About 100 years before the founding of the United States, Philadelphia merchants had strong ties with China. According to some resources, in its heydays, Philadelphia controlled about one-third of the United States trade with China. The profits from China trade provided substantial capital for industry and public institutions.

(The photo of Benjamin Franklin statue on the Campus of University of Pennsylvania was taken in 2014)