In 1818, Nathan Dunn went to Canton seeking his fortune and created the world’s largest collection of Chinese artifacts, paintings, and mannequins outside China. Dunn, who hoped to portray the country in a positive light, was unable to build the collection himself due to an ordinance that restricted foreigners to their factories. Instead, he asked his Chinese friends to select objects during their travels. His museum in Philadelphia was open from 1838 to 1841 and had over 100,000 visitors.