the Beautiful Country and Middle Kingdom

A remarkable history of the two-centuries-old relationship between the United States and China, from the Revolutionary War to the present dayFrom the clipper ships that ventured to Canton hauling cargos of American ginseng to swap Chinese tea, to the US warships facing off against China's growing navy in the South China Sea, from the Yankee missionaries who brought Christianity and education to China, to the Chinese who built the American West, the United States and China have always been dramatically intertwined. For more than two centuries, American and Chinese statesmen, merchants, missionaries, and adventurers, men and women, have profoundly influenced the fate of these nations. While we tend to think of America's ties with China as starting in 1972 with the visit of President Richard Nixon to China, the patterns—rapturous enchantment followed by angry disillusionment—were set in motion hundreds of years earlier. Drawing on personal letters, diaries, memoirs, government documents, and contemporary news reports, John Pomfret reconstructs the surprising, tragic, and marvelous ways Americans and Chinese have engaged with one another through the centuries. A fascinating and thrilling account, The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom is also an indispensable book for understanding the most important—and often the most perplexing—relationship between any two countries in the world.

The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom: A Captivating Chronicle of the Complex Relationship Between the United States and China From clipper ships swapping American ginseng for Chinese tea to warships facing off in the South China Sea, from Yankee missionaries bringing Christianity and education to Chinese laborers building the American West, the United States and China have long been dramatically intertwined. For over two centuries, statesmen, merchants, missionaries, and adventurers from both nations have profoundly influenced each other's fates, engaging in a recurring pattern of enchantment followed by disillusionment. Drawing on personal letters, diaries, memoirs, government documents, and contemporary news reports, John Pomfret reconstructs the surprising, tragic, and marvelous ways Americans and Chinese have interacted through the centuries. The Beautiful Country and the Middle Kingdom provides a fascinating and thrilling account, offering an indispensable guide to understanding the most important—and often perplexing—relationship between any two countries in the world. Tracing the complex history of Sino-American relations, Pomfret reveals the deep roots of current tensions and the potential for future cooperation.