In the early days of Shanghai’s port opening，from the mid 1840s to the late 1860s，Shanghai’s ocean-going import and export trade mainly consisted of opium，raw silk and tea. And the proprietor of ocean-going trade were mainly large foreign merchants with strong capital who came to Shanghai in the early stage of opening port. At the same time，because they were very powerful，before the birth of independent professional shipping service agency，they mainly relied on their own had ocean business oceangoing ships，and so Shanghai import and export trade was almost completely dominated by them. In addition，in order to reduce costs and improve efficiency，various foreign companies had built special clipper ships for transporting opium and tea. The use and promotion of the clipper ships in Shanghai’s ocean trade during this period that played an important role in promoting the development of Shanghai’s oceangoing trade at the beginning of the opening port，and further opening up and expanding the market of Shanghai’s modern ocean trade.