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Chin Sung
This silhouette offers insight into America's many international diplomatic missions and its position on the global stage. Chin Sung came to the United States in 1841 with a missionary, the Reverend Peter Parker, MD, and stayed for a year. Parker expanded his knowledge of Chinese through his relationship with Chin, while Chin developed his comprehension of English at a Massachusetts school.
Auguste Edouart took great pains to distinguish Chin from his other subjects, capturing Chin's clothing and headgear as well as his unusually long braid. Chin points to the characters at the upper left, which note that he was from Peking but also lived in Canton and Macao. The other characters mention his conversational ability with friends, that he looks at the moon, and that he is reciting a poem. Edouart was not the only artist who portrayed Chin in this pose, suggesting that Chin exercised some agency in determining how he was depicted.
Auguste Edouart, 1841 |