by Michael H. Hunt
The Missionary Mind and American East Asia Policy, 1911-1915 by James Reed
The Gospel of Gentility: American Women Missionaries in Turn-of-the-Century China by Jane Hunter
This article was first published in the September 27, 1984 issue of
This is the bicentennial year for contacts between the United States and China, since it was in 1784 that the merchant ship
Empress of China sailed to Canton from New York. It was an auspicious beginning, at least for the American backers of the voyage; the trip netted them 30 percent profit in their investment.
In the ensuing years Americans joined with the British in reaping diplomatic and commercial gains from the Opium Wars of 1839 and 1858, before drifting off to chart their own foreign policy. Highlights of this policy included the “Open Door Notes” of 1899, the recognition of the new Chinese Republic in 1913, the Washington Conference of 1922, the dispatch of General Joseph Stilwell to serve with Chiang