Exchange Database
January 1, 1902
The U.S. Congress continued to pass restrictive legislation regarding Chinese immigration; new laws aimed both at preventing the arrival of more Chinese and establishing guidelines for the ultimate removal of all of those already in the United States.
July 20, 1905
After the United States and China failed to come to an agreement on a new immigration treaty in 1904, Chinese in Shanghai, Beijing, and other cities launched boycotts of U.S. products and businesses.
January 1, 1921
The Rockefeller Foundation began searching for philanthropic projects in China during the 1910s, and in 1915 it donated a large sum to found this institution. Conceived of as a joint U.S.-Chinese project, the PUMC trained nurses and doctors to serve as the core of a modern medical profession in China.
November 12, 1921
The Washington Conferences of 1921-22 focused on settling a number of issues relating to East Asia.
January 1, 1925
The United States decided to remit all of China’s remaining payments on the Boxer Indemnity, and redirected those funds to establish the China Foundation.
January 1, 1928
The United States became the first nation to recognize the new Nationalist regime as the legitimate Government of China when Secretary of State Frank Kellogg signed an agreement granting China full tariff autonomy.
January 1, 1938
After the outbreak of war in China, U.S. popular and governmental support for China increased dramatically. Although not yet ready to go to war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the advice of his Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, and then Adviser on Political Relations at the Department of State Stanley Hornbeck and extended a $25 million credit to the Nationalist regime so that it could purchase necessary supplies.
January 1, 1938
To help the Chinese produce materials for their fight against Japan, U.S. authors and journalists Helen Foster Snow and Edgar Snow joined with a few other foreigners to create Industrial Cooperatives (Indusco)—small factories that could be established anywhere with very little money.
February 18, 1943
Jiang’s wife, Song Meiling, a graduate of Wellesley College, came to the United States to rally greater support for China’s war effort. She spoke to Congress and generally made a good impression on the U.S. public, and succeeded in gaining more aid.
July 22, 1944
With approval from Jiang Jieshi, the United States Army Observation Group went to the Communist base camp at Yan’an to explore the possibility of U.S. aid to Communist forces. The group, which maintained a presence there from July 1944 to March 1947, was on the whole favorably impressed with the discipline and organization of the Communists, and sought to provide direct assistance.