The Center for East Asian Studies, a member of the Wisconsin International Resource Consortium (WIRC), is pleased to be able to offer a special event in the “Teaching the World” webinar series:
Open Sesame: How Ginseng Established an American Presence in 1780s Canton
by Qiong Wu, Ph.D. candidate in history, College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, VA)
Zoom
@ 4 – 5:15 p.m.
Teaching the World with WIRC is a new webinar series for K-14 educators and librarians interested in integrating global perspectives on a central theme in their curriculum. Presented by members of UW-Madison’s Wisconsin International Resource Consortium, the theme for 2026-2027 is The World in 1776.
About the Oct 19 webinar: Ms. Wu’s lecture, “Open Sesame: How Ginseng Established an American Presence in 1780s Canton,” will examine how post-revolutionary merchants selected American ginseng as their primary cargo to initiate trade with China aboard the Empress of China in 1784.
The talk will highlight how early American merchants strategically leveraged their knowledge network and resources to secure a prominent foothold in a fluid global market following American independence. Time will be reserved for Q&A and participant discussion of strategies for integrating the webinar information and recommended resources in their teaching.
CLICK HERE for more information and to REGISTER for the webinar
About the speaker: Ms. Wu is a Ph.D. candidate in History at William & Mary specializing in early American history and the U.S.-China trade. She holds Master’s degrees in American Studies from Brown University and from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Her research investigates U.S. mercantile engagement with the Qing Empire’s Thirteen Factories from the 1750s through the 1840s, focusing on how the early America-China trade fostered a transculturation of economic ideas, cultural artifacts, and social practices. Her work has received support from the Rhode Island Historical Society, the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR), and the Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy at the University of Missouri. Alongside her research, Qiong served as a Digital Apprentice at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture from 2023 to 2024. She is also a dedicated instructor whose teaching experience includes leading classes for the Keio University/William & Mary Cross-Cultural Collaboration Program and teaching HIST 219: the American Independence for the National Institute of American History & Democracy (NIAHD) Pre-College Program. In Fall 2026, she is teaching an undergraduate course at William & Mary titled “Early America in Commodities,” which employs commodity history methodology to examine how these commodities connected early America to wider worlds, and how those worlds, in turn, shaped early America.
Education Standards: This year’s Teaching the World with WIRC webinar series supports the America250 Wisconsin Commission and Act 95 requirements for educational programming commemorating the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States.
Accessibility Accommodations: If you have any questions about accessibility or wish to request accommodations, please contact wirc@iris.wisc.edu. Typically, a two weeks’ notice will allow us to provide access.
