"Narratives of Free Trade makes richly imaginative use of documents and images from early US-China relations. There are ledgers and logbooks from maritime trade that pilot our thinking about Company ships, trading factories and diplomacy at the port of Ca

"This is an important and necessary book emphasizing the early period of Sino-American interaction. Johnson and his authors reinterpret historical events through the lenses of narrative and literature, showing how the stories people tell about one another

Kendall Johnson is director of the American Studies Programme and associate professor at The University of Hong Kong.