China Trade begins in Boston.

The Astrea, captained by John Magee, sails from Boston for Canton. The ship, on which Magee’s brother-in-law, Thomas Handasyd Perkins serves as supercargo, carries ginseng, English iron, Philadelphia beer, arrives at Whampoa in September 1789 and returns to Boston in May 1790. Perkins goes on to establish a close relationship with Chinese merchants, he and his brother form their own company in 1792.* They exchange silver, and, beginning in 1795, opium, for silk, tea, and porcelain, until trading declines in the 1830s.