Anti-Chinese sentiment in the United States has existed since the late 18th century. Its origins have been traced to the American merchants, missionaries, and diplomats who sent home from China "relentlessly negative" reports of the people they encountered there. These attitudes were transmitted to Americans who never left North America, triggering talk of the Yellow Peril, and continued through the Cold War during McCarthyism. Modern anti-Chinese sentiment is the result of China's rise as a major world power. Anti-Chinese sentiment or sinophobia is a term that can refer to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture, or politics of China.