America's China Trade in Historical Perspective: The Chinese and American Performance PDF
Preview America's China Trade in Historical Perspective: The Chinese and American Performance
America’s China Trade in Historical Perspective Harvard Studies ht American-East Asian Relations 1 i The Harvard Studies ht American-East Asian Relations are sponsored and edited by the Committee on American-East Asian Relations of the Depart ment of History at Harvard University. edited by ERNEST R. MAY and JOHN K. FAIRBANK Published by THE COMMITTEE ON AMERICAN-EAST ASIAN RELATIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY in collaboration with THE COUNCIL ON EAST ASIAN STUDIES / HARVARD UNIVERSITY Distributed by the Harvard University Press Cambridge (Massachusetts) and London 1986 America’s China Trade in Historical Perspective The Chinese and American Performance O Copyright 1986 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Main entry under tide: America's China trade ht historical perspective. (Harvard studies in American-East Asian relations ; 11) Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. United S tates—Commerce—China—History. 2. China—Commerce—United States—History. 1. May, Ernest R., 1907- . II. Fairbank, John King, 1928- III. Harvard University. Dept, of History. American- East Asian Relations Committee. IV. Harvard University. Committee on American-East Asian Relations. V. Series. HF3128.A62 1986 3829.09739051 85-29159 ISBN 0-674-03075-3 Designed by Adrianne Onderdonk Dudden F O R E W O R D ERNEST R. MAY American China policy has figured in a multitude of books and articles, many of which focus on economic motivations, espe cially on American hopes for commerce and investment in China. Yet, very little research or writing has dealt with the China trade itself, or the actual economic relationships between Americans and Chinese. The Old China Trade from 1784 to about 1860 became a legend in American thinking, but, after that romantic era of tea, silk, and opium, what actually happened? What did Chinese-American economic relations consist of in fact? This volume explores the commercial realities underlying the rhetoric about the China trade. It began with a conference sup ported by the national Committee on American East Asian Re lations at Mt. Kisco, New York, in 1976. The specialists who contributed were able to penetrate major aspects of the subject as no single author could have done. Revised and developed, their essays cast glints of light onto vi ERNEST R. MAY this little-explored terrain. Given the sparseness of prior work, the variable quality and availability of the sources, and the usual difficulties inherent in cross-cultural scholarship, these explora tions only hint at the overall shape of what future research may eventually disclose. When the history of China's domestic econ omy still awaits sustained investigation, it is hard to tell now whether the stories told in this volume reflect the main lines of China’s entrance into the international trading world or are more superficial. But, even if they are only like the French war ships off the coast of Africa that Joseph Conrad described in Heart of Darkness as “firing onto a continent,” the chapters that follow nevertheless make a much needed beginning. Chinese- American economic relations pose crucial problems for both peoples, and we need to separate myth from fact in their history. C O N T E N T S Foreword v ERNEST R. MAY Introduction: Patterns and Problems i JOHN K. FAIRBANK PART ONE CHINA'S MAJOR EXPORT TRADES 1 Chinese Teas to America—A Synopsis 11 YEN-PING HAO Direct Trade without Diplomacy 1784-Î843 12 Trade Under the Treaty System 1844-1895 16 Trade Mechanics 18 Consequences for Economic Development 28 2 The Boom Years of the Fukien Tea Trade, 1842-1888 33 ROBERT P. GARDELLA Fukien’s Opening to Foreign Trade, 1842-1855 34 Organizing the Tea Trade 37 Impact of the Tea Export Boom on the Fukien Economy 54 The Effect Upon Provincial Government Finance 63 The Competition of Tea Plantations Abroad 70 viii Contents 3 The Silk Export Trade and Economic Modernization in China and Japan 77 LILLIAN M. LI The Modem Role of Silk Exports 78 Characteristics of Silk Technology 83 The Chinese Pattem of Development 86 The Japanese Pattem of Development 88 Urban-Rural Integration 91 Commercial Institutions and Practices 95 PART TWO AMERICAN IMPORTS INTO CHINA 4 The Chinese-American Cotton-Textile Trade, 1830-1930 103 KANG CHAO Characteristics of the American Cotton-Textile Industry 105 Quality and Price of American Cotton Cloth 108 Trade Organizations and Marketing Techniques 114 How the Market Was Lost 119 5 The East Asian “Textile Cluster” Trade, 1868-1973: A Comparative-Advantage Interpretation 129 BRUCE L. REYNOLDS Two Approaches 131 Some Characteristics of Textiles 133 Trade Data: Preliminary Observations 136 International Competition in Textile Chuter Trade 142 6 Commercial Penetration and Economic Imperialism in China: An American Cigarette Company's Entrance into the Market 151 SHERMAN COCHRAN An American Multinational Corporation in China 153 The Role of the Chinese in BAT 165 East Asian Opposition to BAT 183 Commercial Penetration and Economic Imperialism 199 7 The United States Petroleum Trade with China, 1876-1949 205 CHU-YUAN CHENG Trends in China's Petroleum Imports 206 The Changing Role of American Oil Companies 211 Marketing and Distributing Systems 214 Major Economic Effects 223 Contents ix PART THREE PERSPECTIVES ON TRADE AND INVESTMENT 8 The Minor Significance of Commercial Relations Between the United States and China, 1850-Î93i 237 PETER SCHRAN The Relative Importance of Foreign Trade 237 The Relative Importance of Bilateral Trade 241 The Relative Importance of Trade in Specific Commodities 246 9 The Impacts of American Multinational Enterprise on American-Chinese Economic Relations, 1786-Î 949 259 MIRA WILKINS American Firms in China Trade and Manufacturing 259 American Multinationals’ Direct Marketing in China 263 China Trade Corporations of American Residents in China 279 American Nonindustrial Enterprises in China 280 American Investments in China 283 Notes 295 Bibliography 343 Glossary 375 Index 379
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