HIST 2 |
| In 1793, when the British crown sent George McCartney with an envoy to China to open trade agreements, one of the many goods he brought with him was porcelain wares. Little did he know, the Chinese already produced high quality porcelain. As a result, this became a cause of conflict between China and Britain. The British would later force China into trade. When China tried to resist, the British seized the opportunity to attack and crushed the Chinese military, taking Hong Kong for themselves. This research shows the role of chemistry in this history, provides a chemical definition of the quality/value of porcelain, projects a methodology by which to analyze and identify Qing porcelain to validate its authenticity, and postulates what the possible "secret" chemical component is in Chinese porcelain. |
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General Papers
9:00 AM-11:45 AM, Sunday, April 6, 2008 Marriott Convention Center -- Fulton, Oral
Sci-Mix
Division of the History of Chemistry |