Go to content

EVENTS

Home > Events > Event Highlights

Event Highlights

Visit to Maritime Museum's "The Dragon and the Eagle" Exhibition

2019-04-02

Maritime Silk Road Society (MSRS) and Savantas Liberal Arts Academy (SLAA) co-organized the Visit to Maritime Museum's "The Dragon and the Eagle" Exhibition on 2 April. The event was attended by more than 30 members.

Sino-American maritime trade began by the first voyage of the American vessel “Empress of China” in 1784. The United States of America was officially recognized just a year earlier after the decade-long war of independence, and had been searching for foreign business opportunities. Having witnessed the success of the Sino-European trade, the “Empress of China” set sailed to take a slice of the trading market in the Far East. The journey netted great bounties as Chinese goods were well-received in America. This prompted more maritime merchants to frequent the two countries, marking a prosperous page in history.

The exhibition was divided into five sections, namely “Dreaming of the East”, “Treaty Ports”, “Speeding up the Trade”, “Exotic Tastes”, and “Building a Community”. Exhibits included government pass approvals of “Empress of China”, tea trade documents, armorial porcelain, ivory sculptures, mirror portraits of political figures, Western black lacquered and gilt-decorated furniture, and the Chinese imperial dragon barge. The exhibition guide also filled in the background of various pieces, such as the proliferation of copy-paintings in China, business at Thirteen Hongs of Canton, and the development of the speed-crazed clipper ships.