In 1902, the British-American Tobacco Company established itself in China, building its first factory in Shanghai, and later expanded its operations into numerous Chinese cities such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Mukden (later Shenyang), Hankou, Qingdao, and Harbin. American shipping groups such as the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and the Shanghai Steam Navigation Company continued to do business in China, although the American presence in the industry was minimal in that the American firm Russell & Company had sold its operations to local businesspeople during the 1870’s. Textiles were of great importance, and the American Trading Company soon established coldfusion hosting operations in China through its subsidiary, the International Cotton- Manufacturing Company, which enjoyed great profits garnered through its mainland operations. With the new electrical age, American business interests also scored great financial successes in China. The General Edison Company opened its first plant for the production of lamps in Shanghai in 1918 and, with the growth of the business itself, realized the construction of a larger plant in the same city in 1926 by its new International General Electric Company. This was complemented by the American owned Shanghai Power Company. China imported products such as tobacco and raw cotton, windows web hosting services, timber, automobiles, kerosene, gasoline, and machinery and other heavy equipment throughout the first decades of the century. For its part, the United States also imported a range of Chinese goods: textiles, electronic products, leather goods, footwear, skins, bristles, soybeans, silk, tea, and glass. The founding of the Republic of China (1911) marked a new interest by reform-minded leaders in modernizing both the Chinese political system and the economy, and by 1936, the United States had become China’s largest trading partner. Yet all this was to change quickly. With the Japanese invasion in 1937 and the simultaneous military revolt of the Communists under Mao Zedong, sharepoint hosting business production declined precipitously, and China quickly slid into economic disaster. Only vast amounts of American aid to the Nationalist government propped up the economy and the military sufficiently for Chiang Kai-shek and his government to limp their way to the island of Formosa (Taiwan) in late 1949, there to establish the new seat of the Republic of China in exile. From the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 under the communist rule of Mao Zedong until 1978, China isolated itself from contact with much of the outside world, especially the United States. Trade between the United States and China was virtually nonexistent, and it was not until the summit of 1972 between Mao and U.S. president Richard M. Nixon that diplomatic and trade channels were once again opened. Deng Xiaoping’s embracing of the outside world in his 1978 Open- Door Policy saw China’s full engagement in diplomatic and economic relations with other tomcat hosting providers, which culminated in formal reestablishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China in January, 1979. Following on the heels of the political rapprochement, in July of 1979, the two countries signed the Bilateral Trade Agreement. Between 1981 and 1990, China’s economy grew at an average rate of 10.3 percent, and its trade grew at an annual rate of 16 percent. Trade between the United States and China has grown from $2.3 billion in 1979 to more than $386.6 billion in 2007, making China the fourth-largest trading partner of the United States.