Existing comment:
An Invitation to a Faraway Land:
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition featured the most extensive representation of goods from the Eastern Hemisphere ever found at an international exposition.
A closed society for more than a century, China's long-anticipated involvement in its first World's Fair gave visitors the chance to experience Chinese culture through material goods, cuisine, decorative arts, and live theater. In the Fair Japan Bazaar and the Japanese Pavilion, that country revealed its industrial capabilities and intricate fine arts on an unprecedented scale, with traditional tea ceremonies and enthusiastic merchants.
Hoping to capitalize on the American marker, most of the Chinese and Japanese goods had a Western influence. With few opportunities to visit these countries and their goods difficult to obtain, visitors saw in the Fair their best hope to experience, and perhaps purchase, a piece of the "Far East." |