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Episode: FYI EP2: The Historic Relationship between The US and China.
Description: Chronology of U.S.-China Relations, 1784-2000
Eighteenth century
1784:Â First Representatives of the United States Went to China
A ship called the Empress of China became the first vessel to sail from the United States to China, arriving in Guangzhou (Canton) in August. The vessel’s supercargo, Samuel Shaw, had been appointed as an unofficial consul by the U.S. Congress, but he did not make contact with Chinese officials or gain diplomatic recognition for the United States. Since the 1760s all trade with Western nations had been conducted at Guangzhou through a set group of Chinese merchants with official licen...