435. The East Side Story: What the East River Witnesses over 232 Years?

On February 22, 1784, the day when the Empress of China started her maiden sail to China, unfolded the process of the East River being the United States business and financial center. I am not going to talk about the Wall Street and the business center on the west side of the East River.

I will introduce you a town on its East side. Flushing (法拉盛) is a town on the east side of the East River. The revolutionary veterans who opened the trade with China would be surprised at seeing the evolution of Flushing (法拉盛) from a sleepy town to a dynamic center of business in New York. Flushing has become a large commercial and retail center and is the fourth largest central business district in New York City. The intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue is the third busiest intersection in New York City, behind Times and Herald Squares.

Very impressively, Flushing (法拉盛) has developed into one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia. Chinese-owned businesses dominate the area along Main Street and the blocks west of it. Consequently, Flushing has grown rapidly enough to become the second-largest Chinatown outside of Asia. In fact, the Flushing may surpass the Chinatown in lower Manhattan on the west side of the East River within a few years.

The picture on the right was taken from a traditional Chinese Pharmacy Store in Flushing (法拉盛) on February 21, 2016. The Chinese loved the Ginseng that carried over by the US founders in 1784. 232 years have passed. Since then the Chinese have used American Ginseng. Today they still love the roots. Is it amazing?

 

434. From the East River to the Pearl River and the Potomac River

232 years ago, today,  February 22, 1784, the Empress of China, the first United States commercial ship started her journey from the East River, New York.  Carrying the hope of the new nation to break the economic blockade by the British Empire, the most powerful country in the time, through a journey of 18,000 miles, the Empress of China entered the Pearl River and into Guangzhou (Canton) on August 28, 1784, and the United States formally entered the China trade. The trade achieved a great success. The ginsengs were sold out more quickly than the crew member thought. On December 28, 1784, the ship set sail for the United States. After about half year, the ship arrived back in New York on May 11, 1785, filled with tea, silks, porcelain wares and gunpowder. George Washington was pleased by the success of the voyage and Samuel Shaw, the commercial manager of the ship, was appointed as the first American diplomatic representative to China.

New York became the center of the country because of the economic booming stimulated by the trade with China. In order to balance the influence on political power from the economic power generated by the trade, George Washington wanted to build a harbor along the Potomac River for China trade.

 

409. Samuel Shaw Showed John Jay the Prospect of American Trade With China

Some of me readers might be surprised by the news that Chinese factory are selling their manufactures to the United States.  Even more, China's rail manufacturing company  is setting its sights on the United States, breaking ground on Thursday for a $60 million plant in Springfield, Mass., that will assemble new cars for Boston's subway system. 

Actually, the prospect that the United States is a big market for China's products was predicted by Major Samuel Shaw , (1754-1794) the first American Counsel to China appointed by George Washington 230 years ago. In his letter to John Jay  (1745-1829) dated May 10, 1785, Samuel reported below:

The Day of our arrival at Canton, August 30, and the following days, we were visited by the Chinese merchants and the chiefs and gentlemen of the several European establishments. The Chinese were very indulgent towards us. They styled us that New People; and when by the map we conveyed to them an idea of the extent of our country, with its present and increasing population, they were highly pleased at the prospect of so considerable a market for the products of theirs. As for more on starting of the China Trade, read Dr. Dave Wang's paper, With China We Trade. 

351. John Ledyard, Robert Morris and Opening Trade with China

John Ledyard (1751-1789)worked hard to win the support from leaders of the fledgling United States. The leaders of the new nation, suffering from economic chaos, were pondering how to lead the nation out of its distressed circumstances in the wake of the victory in the Revolutionary War. Ledyard convinced whoever interested in his China plan by predicting opening trade with China “could save our country from bankruptcy on profit of the fur trade.” The China trade could also, “give our United States a place in the commercial world.”

Ledyard travelled to Philadelphia, the new nation’s economical and political center, where his “revolutionary new plan for China trade” attracted Robert Morris (1734-1806), one of the founding fathers. Morris, the Financier of the American Revolution, was the Superintendent of Finance of the United States when Ledyard met him. In June 1783, Ledyard had a conference with Morris. He detailed Morris his sailing route from the United States to China. In accordance with the route, a ship would sail around Cape Horn to the Pacific West, where the ship could buy furs pelts from the local Indians. Then the ship would sail to China with the furs, where those things would be “sold at fabulous prices.”

349. Alexander Hamilton and the Report on the US-China Trade

Ginseng, the herb that grew in North America, played an important role in promoting the relations between the newly founded United States and China. It helped the founders of the United States in their efforts to open direct trade with China. The huge demand of the Ginseng forced the Chinese merchants to look for Ginseng from other places in the world.

When the American Ginseng carried by the Empress of China reached Canton, all Ginseng carried over were sold out quickly in the unbelievable price. Not long after the Empress of China made great profit from the Ginseng trade, the joint supercargo, reported to Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804), Secretary of Treasure, “In the year of 1784, on the 22d of February, the ship Empress of China, being the first ship that ever sailed from United States for China, was sent to Canton by a company of American merchants; her cargo consists of Spanish dollars, about four hundred peculs of Genseng (Ginseng) , a piculs being 133/⅓ Ib English Avoirdu poids, some cordage, wine, lead, iron a few furs, with other trifling articles not worthy enumerating.”

312. David Brooks, Chinese Brands and the China Trade

China brands have been popular in North America. However, I was surprised when I read David Brook’s article, The Romantic Advantage, in New York Times, May 31, 2013. According to David, 94 percent of Americans cannot name even a single brand from China, the world’s second-largest economy. David forgot the basic fact that Chinese brands were well-known in North America even before the United States was established.

It is difficult to figure out the percentage about the Americans who could name how many brands from China during the founding era of the United States. However, it is safe to say that Chinese products were very attractive to the Americans in the 18th century. The founders and the revolutionary veterans certainly knew products from China were widely welcomed when they sent to China the first commercial ship, The Empress of China, on February 22, 1784. The fact that the Chinese goods brought back by the ship were sold out quickly proves the above statement.

298. Richard Henry Lee and US Trade with China

As soon as the Empress of China returned to New York, American founder Richard Henry Lee wrote to Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Adams, and James Madison about the event. In his letter to Jefferson, Lee stated: The enterprise of America is well marked by a successful Voyage made by a ship from this City—A ship has gone to, and returned from Canton in fourteen months with a valuable Eastern cargo and met with the most friendly treatment from the Chinese—Other Vessels are gone and are expected back in the continuation.

Later, Lee informed Samuel Adams that the success of the sail was “a proof of American enterprise, and will probably mortify, as much as it will injure our old oppressor, the British.”

295. John Jay on the First Effort to Establish Trade Relationsip with China

The Empress of China was by no means a purely commercial activity. Its political symbol is significant: her sail to China made it clear to the world that the United States was no longer the British colonies and was now an independent country.

In celebration of the sail of the Empress of China, Philip Freneau (1752-1832), an iconic poet of the American Revolution, well known for his patriotism, explained the nature of the sail in his widely circulated poem, “With clearance from BELLONA won/ She spreads her wings to meet the Sun/ Those golden regions to explore/ Where George forbade to sail before….To that old track no more confin’d/ By Britain’s jealous court assign’d/ She round the STORMY CAPE shall sail/ And eastward, catch the odorous gale.”

On May 19, 1785, as soon as the Empress of China returned, John Jay, the secretary of foreign affairs of the Congress, expressed “a peculiar satisfaction in the successful issue of this effort of the citizens of America to establish a direct trade with China, which does so much honor to its undertakers and conductors.”