Abstract

Gothenburg is located on Sweden’s west coast. The sea and an international orientation beckoned for this city, where it was harbour port and home to the Swedish East India Company during the 1700s. This book is part of a city initiative called Kunskap Göteborg 2021, in celebration of Gothenburg’s 400-years jubilee that takes place in 2021. This book is a collection of narratives and insights of those who had helped build the international orientation of Gothenburg from the early 1980s, focusing specifically on Gothenburg’s past, present and future ties with Asia, vice versa. The foundational research for this book in was made possible by a stipendium from the Foundation Anna Ahrenberg, Gothenburg, Sweden.

Target readership

This book is for scholars and practitioners interested to get first hand insight into interview data with key individuals who helped (re-)open trade relations between Sweden and China from the early 1980s. It also traces the foundational discourse that helped build international business relations between Sweden and China from the time of the Swedish East Indiaman trade during the 1700s. Historical documents from merchants and supercargoes of Sweden’s early Far East trade indicates that Sweden had a different perspective than most other European countries with regards to how it interacted with China in international business and culture sharing.

Research