Born in Boston, buried in a ‘foreign devil’ graveyard in China

Pleased to be quoted in the Boston Globe's "Ideas" section on ‪Boston's & ‪Salem's connections to ‪China: 
"The ship’s (Empress of China) return was widely seen in the United States as demonstrating that the young nation was more than a jumped-up set of backwater counties, explains Dane Morrison, a historian at Salem State University and author of the book “True Yankees: The South Seas and the Discovery of American Identity.” He writes, “Shaw himself believed that the Congress should recognize the introduction of Yankees at Canton as a great American holiday. . . as historic even as the country’s independence day." For more:

http://wMoreMorbostonglobe.com/ideas/2017/11/18/born-boston-buried-foreign-devil-graveyard-china/ZoPIngyWnUVmNpCEKDy6CP/story.html …

The Kinsmans: Love & Loss in Nineteenth-Century Macau

Adam Matthew Editor's Choice blog, 7 August 2017:

"I leave it for you to judge by your own feelings how utterly forlorn and desolate I felt last evening when I lost sight of the dwelling which contained my precious wife and children."

"Verandah of Nathan Kinsman's Residence in Macao," by Lam Qua, c. 1843. Courtesy of Martin Gregory Gallery.

The words that Nathaniel Kinsman hastily penned to his “dearly beloved Wife” aboard a fast boat that carried him against the current of the Pei-ho River, from Macao (Macau) to Canton (Guangzhou) in China, reveal how Americans experienced China in the nineteenth century. They are emblematic of stories that reveal the human side of the Old China Trade, and lie beneath the conventional narrative that regales in opium sales and opium wars, pirates and typhoons, and, of course, tea, porcelain and silk.

In my research into early American encounters in the East, I find it challenging to locate these tales of love and loss, but occasionally one turns up a special trove; such are the papers of Nathaniel and Rebecca Kinsman. Fortunately, I recently came across such a trove in Adam Matthew’s China, America and the Pacific papers, in which the written record for the Kinsman family is particularly strong and offers a rare glimpse into an early American household overseas.

To read on, please click on the Adam Matthew link:

http://www.amdigital.co.uk/m-editorial-blog/the-kinsmans/

True Yankees: 2015 Americana Lecture, 22 November

Please join me for a talk about “True Yankees” at the annual

Americana Lecture

Hamilton Hall, Salem Massachusetts

Sunday 22 November 3:00 pm

Proceeds support this important 1805 Samuel McIntire designed National Historic Landmark.

For further information, see

http://www.hamiltonhall.org/americana.php

For purchase information, see
https://jhupbooks.press.jhu.edu/content/true-yankees

CONFERENCE Salem Sails to Canton: From the Old China Trade to the New US-China Relations

 Salem and Guangzhou (Canton) have maintained over two hundred years of friendship through trade and friendly exchanges. After the first U.S. voyage of the "Empress of China" in 1784, many Americans were attracted by the success of this inaugural trip to the orient. In 1786, Salem dispatched its first ship, the “Grand Turk,” to China carrying many local products. It traveled to Guangzhou (Canton) and Hong Kong and became the first Salem ship to reach the Far East, thereby opening Salem’s long history of trading with China, especially Guangzhou (Canton).

On July 28 and July 29, Salem State University and Guangzhou University will jointly host a conference on the theme of “Salem Sails to Canton: From the Old China Trade to the New U.S.-China Relations. This two day conference will be held at Salem State University and will include scholars from Salem State University and Guangzhou University as well as from the Peabody Essex Museum, Massachusetts Historical Society, University of Freiburg in Germany, Jinan University, and Guangzhou Oriental Museum. Conference topics will cover both the history of the China trade and the current relationship between China and the United States. For a detailed program itinerary click here.

Conference Details:

Monday, July 28 – Tuesday, July 29

Marsh Conference Center (210 Marsh Hall)

71 Loring Avenue

Salem, Massachusetts

Registration fee: $25, includes all program sessions and lunch both days.  Register Here.

  

•   Download Program Itinerary

•   Online Registration

  

                

Monday, July 28, 2014, 9:00 AM
Marsh Conference Center

Contact Professor Li Li or li.li@salemstate.edu