Silk. Silver. Gunpowder. Trade with China that Changed History

Over several millennia, the West has gone from admiration for China to disdain and back to admiration, now mixed with fear of retribution for past humiliations. Michael Pembroke explored this entire journey, relying on a vast number of sources. His book has resonated greatly in Western society. It examines not only the history of trade in silk, porcelain, tea, and the fashion for chinoiserie, but also the cynical violent 'opening of China' through the intoxication of the population with opium, the theft of seedlings and tea cultivation technologies, direct military invasion by colonial powers, and the destruction and looting of cultural heritage.

Sima Qian, the great historian of the Han dynasty, wrote: 'He who does not forget the past possesses the present.' A significant part of modern China-West relations is a consequence of past interactions, conflicts, victories, and defeats. Many contemporary hotspots are longstanding sources of pain.