203. Should I Agree totally with Professor Niall Ferguson?

Niall Ferguson, the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and the William Ziegler Professor at Harvard Business School, was nominated by Time Magazine in 2004 as "one of the world's hundred most influential people.” He made a speech titled “Power, Money and American National Security, Today and Tomorrow” in Philadelphia where he was awarded the sixth annual Benjamin Franklin Public Service Award by the Foreign Policy Research Institute of Philadelphia.

He remarked in his speech that the West ascended through technological and science innovation. For him, this is the only factor that made the West more powerful. I don’t totally agree upon his opinion; based on my examination of United States founding fathers’ efforts to draw nourishments from Chinese civilization to build a new nation in North America, I have come to the conclusion that one of the reasons why the United States jumped from a tiny nation to a world superpower is that the founding fathers opened the door for Americans to adopt positive elements from other cultures, including those of Chinese civilization.

202. From Confucius to the Great Wall

The well-known online magazine, Huaren, published in its September issue, Dr. Wang's paper.
From Confucius to the Great Wall: Chinese Cultural Influence on Colonial North America

The spread of Chinese cultures into North America started with the efforts of the eminent colonists, such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson, who were mainly responsible for broadening of Chinese civilization in North America. They used positive elements from the civilization to answer the economical, social and political issues in North America. Their efforts actually created a special pattern for integration of elements from other cultures into the main culture. By incorporating elements from Chinese culture into the European culture they carried over the Atlantic Ocean, the colonists took significant steps toward the creation of a civilization of their own. The remarkable story of the efforts to draw nourishments from Chinese culture has served as an excellent case study of the creation of a new civilization by adopting selected positive elements from other cultures and assimilating the elements into the main culture. The colonists’ efforts have provided us with an ideal way of dealing with other civilizations.

You can read the whole paper from this link.

201. Canton and Chinese Influence on the Early United States

Some cities in the United States named their cities Canton. You maybe not aware of it. However, anyone who is familiar with Chinese history knows that Canton is the American name of a Chinese city. It is called Guangzhou nowadays. How come Americans named their cities following the name of the Chinese city? Little surprise will arise for knowing the fact that Americans named their cities after British cities because of the obvious reason.

I have two possible answers in the following. According to what I heard, the cities were named by the Chinese. In the 18th century many Chinese coolies, who came to the United States by assuming manual labors in various places, did not intend to stay in the United States for good, but want home with dollars in several years. However, by no means, they could control their own destines in this land far away from home. They found that they, by no means, could cross the Pacific Ocean with the money in hands. As a result, they named the places where they had to stay Canton-the name of their home town.

However, I don't think that those Chinese coolies could give names to their adopted cities at their will. Probably, Canton was chosen by powerful American merchants, who made huge fortunes from the China Trade directly or indirectly.

It is a well-known fact that the first millionaire of the United States was made by the trade between China and the United States. If you want to know more about how the first generation of the citizens of this country made their huge fortune out of the China Trade, please make a trip to Northeast United Stats, also called New England.

I have found that it is a must for a person who is interested in learning the early trade relations between the United States and China to visit this area-a living museum on the relations between the two countries in the 18th century. I have to stop here, otherwise, some will assume that I collect commissions from the area. To be honest, I don't collect a single penny from New England. Please find more information on Canton of the United States and American founders from this link.

200. Dr. Wang's Published Works on the Founding Fathers and China

I have beaten up my brain to think about what I should put out with this post, a big milestone of this blog, aiming to introduce Dr. Wang's study of the founding fathers' efforts to borrow from Chinese civilization in their efforts to establish a new society and nation in North America. A good idea came from a friend, which is to introduce you the list of Dr. Wang's publications. In the following please enjoy the list:

22. Chinese Civilization and the Early Development of the United States, The Historical Review: A Biannual Journal of History and Archaeology, Vol. Indian Institute of Oriental Studies and Research, Kolkata, India. 2010
21. George Washington and the China Trade, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia) May, 2010,
20. Benjamin Franklin and Confucius Moral Philosophy, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia) January 2010,
19. How China Helped Shape American Culture: The Founding Fathers and Chinese Civilization, Virginia Review of Asian Studies 2010
18. Asian Dry Rice and Slaves’ Living Environment: Thomas Jefferson’s Efforts to Transplant the Rice to the United States, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia), September 2009.
17. Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Chinese Civilization, Virginia Review of Asian Studies 2009.
16. Presenting Benjamin Franklin and the Great Wall of China, CALA (Chinese American Librarians Association) Newsletter, Spring 2009.
15. George Washington and Chinese Flowers, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia) May 2009
14. With China We Trade, Asia Times (Hong Kong), March 11, 2009
13. Thomas Jefferson and Chinese Architecture, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia), January 2009, Chinese New Year Edition
12. All Posterity Will Remember My Legacy: Thomas Jefferson and a Legendary Chinese Prince, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia), September, 2008.
11. Benjamin Franklin’s Efforts to Promote Sericulture in North America, Franklin Gazette, Volume 18, No. 2, Summer 2008
10. The Founding Fathers of the United States and Chinese Porcelain Ware, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia), January, 2008.
09. Benjamin Franklin and the Great Wall of China, Franklin Gazette, Volume 18, Number 1, Spring 2008
08. The Founding Fathers of the United States and Chinese Civilization, in Trans/American, Trans/Oceanic, Trans/latioin, The 3rd International American Study Association (IASA) World Congress Proceedings, September, 2007.
07. Benjamin Franklin and Chinese Civilization, Reset Dialogue on Civilizations, Well-known European Website (Italy).
06. Tea, the Leaves that Triggered the American War for Independence, Huaren E-Magazine (Australia), September 2007
05. Ginseng, the Herb that Helped the United States to Enter International Commerce, Huren E-Magazine (Australia), May 2007
04. Exploring Benjamin Franklin’s Moral Life, Franklin Gazette, Volume. 17, No. 1, Spring 2007
03. Benjamin Franklin and Chinese Civilization, U.S –China Relation Series, No. 2, New York, Outer Sky Press, August 2006
02. Benjamin Franklin’s Attitude toward Chinese Civilization, Social Science Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology (China) , Issue 4, 2006
01. Benjamin Franklin and China: A Survey of Benjamin Franklin’s Efforts at Drawing Positive Elements from Chinese Civilization during the Formative Age of the United States, The Historical Review: A Biannual Journal of History and Archaeology, Vol. XIII, 2005, pp. 1-22, Indian Institute of Oriental Studies and Research, Kolkata, India.
The paper was elected by the National Commission for Benjamin Franklin’s Tercentenary Commission and published in its Official Website since 2005 (The commission is headed by Former President George W. Bush 2000-2008). It is available on line at http://www.benfranklin300.org/etc_essays.htm

199. Obama and the Founding Fathers

As a history lover, usually, I don't focus my radar on current development of the relations between China and the United States. However, President Obama's comments on the relations stimulated my curiosities on the connection between history and nowadays. President Barack Obama said Thursday, September 23, 2010 that U.S.-China cooperation has helped ease global financial turmoil. He also pointed out that US-China cooperation is "a critical ingredient in a whole range of security issues around the world."

No doubt, China is important to the United States again. The fact that I used the word "again" reveals the historical fact that China was very critical to the founding of the United States. Spending 10 minutes on reading my article, With China We Trade, which published by Asian Times on line, on March 11, 2009, is worthwhile. You will learn how China's economic power, whose GDP accounted for 33% of the whole world, played a critical role for the new born United States' overcoming the financial and economic crises created by the Great Britain in its hope of forcing the newly independent former colonies to return one by one to be under the British rule.

198. Franklin had a fairly good grounding in Confucius moral philosophy

Benjamin Franklin had a fairly good grounding in Confucius moral philosophy. Mr.jimmiraybob derived at this conclusion after he read Dr. Dave Wang's works on the founding fathers and Chinese civilization. Mr. jimmiraybod wrote the following in the Well-known Blog, American Creation:

"Whatever the founding father’s depth of understanding regarding other religions and philosophies, it appears that Franklin had a fairly good grounding in Confucius moral philosophy. Much of Franklin’s own lifelong pursuit of virtue (see the 13 virtues/Autobiography) appear to have been modeled, at least in large part, by Confucian teaching. Prompted by the earlier post I did some Googling and came across a couple of things written by Professor Dave Wang (cited by Spirits)": More is available from this link.

197. Dr Wang's Research in Japanese Eventually

I have found that Dr. Wang's research published in Italin and Chinese. Thanks to Japanese scholars, now it is availalbe in Japanese.

独立前の北米への中国文化の伝播は、顕著な直接関係のない海外の土地への中国文化の拡大の最も重要な一例である。中国文化から活力を引き出そうとした建国の父達の努力は、彼らが中国文化の前向きな要素と調和しながらアメリカ文化をどのようにして発展させたかを示している。
中国文化から活力を引き出そうとした彼らの努力の素晴らしい物語は、他の文化から建設的な要素を選別して採用することや、その要素を新しい文化に溶け込ませて新しい文化を創り出してきた事の、興味をそそるケーススタディの役割を果たしてきた。彼らの顕著な努力は、他の文化から活力を引き出す事が文化の発展のための最良な方法の一つであることを示すとの見方を我々に与えてくれた。

The transmission of Chinese culture to colonial North America provides one of the most significant examples of the spread of Chinese civilization from its center to overseas, where no significant direct contact existed. The founding fathers' efforts to draw nourishments from the culture demonstrates that how they developed the American culture by their incorporating the positive elements from Chinese culture.
The remarkable story of their efforts to draw nourishments from Chinese culture has served as an intriguing case study of the creation of a new civilization by adopting selected positive elements from other cultures and assimilating the elements into the new one. The eminent colonists' efforts have provided us with an insight of how drawing nourishments from other cultures has proven to be one of the best means of the development of civilization.