Great changes took place in international trade in the eighteenth century, and China was one of the centres driving the transformation. The shift from large monopolies controlling trade routes — with almost singular access to markets, key ports and commodities — to trade becoming more open on all levels was largely the result of the world becoming a safer place for commercial activity. By the end of the century, dozens of small private ships were circumnavigating the globe every year, with nothing more than a few cannons for protection and a few dozen men trimming sails. Private entrepreneurs increased efficiency in international...

In order to understand Hong merchants’ businesses it is important to first understand the trading environment in which they operated. Four levels of officials were in charge of the trade and foreigners: governor-generals, customs superintendents, governors and magistrates. There were three basic merchant classes, and all of them could purchase civil degrees to gain social status and provide some protection against failure. Most of the products merchants sold were produced in east-central China and transported to Canton via a long human caravan. Credit, capital and consignments were very important to trade, and growth would have been much hindered without them....

In this chapter, I analyze trade contracts in Canton, using the 64 examples in the plate section for reference. These documents are little known among scholars, primarily because none of them have survived in China. To my knowledge, the only detailed contracts from the Canton trade are found in foreign archives. They are important, not only because they provide a window into each merchant’s operation, but also because they reveal the limits of the system supporting the trade. Contracts help to define the formal and informal legal structures that governed commerce. In the first half of the eighteenth century,...

As mentioned in the introduction, the establishment of the Co-hong, in 1760, traditionally has been seen by historians as a monopolistic organization that forced itself on the trade, with the objective of hindering and restricting competition and commerce. If restricting trade was truly the Co-hong’s objective, how is it that the opposite happened? Trade was not hindered; output grew each year; and foreigners were not discouraged from going to China. Clearly, there is something missing from the story.

Appendix 3D shows the Hong merchants who were active before and after the establishment of the Co-hong in 1760. Of the 17...

Until recently, little was known about the Canton junk trade to Southeast Asia. We had no reliable data on the number or sizes of junks, or who sponsored and managed them. It has been long known that Hong merchants were involved with the junks, but with few specific details. This picture was again due to there being few references to this part of their operations in the English and Chinese sources. It was thought that the junk trade in Canton had declined by the late eighteenth century — to the point that it was insignificant.¹

We now know differently. The number...

Tan Suqua and sons were at the centre of the commerce in Canton for more than 60 years (ca. 1716 to 1778) influencing the overall course of trade.¹ Suqua was considered by contemporaries (Chinese and foreigners alike) as one of the most trusted and respected merchants of his time, with high business standards and top quality merchandise. By 1730, he was head of one of the largest and wealthiest export houses in Canton. Despite some ups and downs, the family business was central to the commerce for more than half a century.²

Tan Suqua’s Chinese name was Chen Shouguan (陳壽官),...

Tan Hunqua¹ should rightfully be classed among the founding fathers of the trade. His family business paralleled that of Tan Suqua’s almost from beginning to end. He never reached the wealth and prestige of Suqua, but was by far, the greatest free trade advocate of all his contemporaries, including those who came before him and those who appeared a hundred years after him. If some of his ideas about trade had been implemented, we would now be telling very different stories about these Chinese family enterprises.

As it happened, China was not ready for the level of free trade he...

Cai Hunqua and Gau Semqua were partners who entered the trade in the early 1730s during the Tan Suqua and Tan Hunqua controversy.¹ Cai Hunqua’s name is unknown, but he was a member of the Cai 蔡 family.² Semqua’s name was Qiu Kun 邱崑 . The two partners traded out of the Yifeng Hang, which Semqua owned. Cai Hunqua and sons took care of most of the Yifeng Hang’s business with foreigners, while Semqua took care of the junk trade and dealt with Chinese from the interior. In 1748, a Swedish map shows the business location. It was quite a...

Beaukeequa’s story is exceptional among his peers. No other merchant had more influence on trade in the mid-eighteenth century than he did. As Chapters 5 and 6 reveal, Tan Suqua and Tan Hunqua had significant impact on the commerce, and the latter tried very hard to push through reforms in the 1730s. In Chapters 3 and 7, I outline the control the triple alliance and its head, Cai Hunqua, had over a good part of the trade in the 1750s and 1760s. I also briefly discuss, in several chapters, the great influence Poankeequa had with officials in Canton.

None of...

Texia and his partner Simon began trading in Canton in 1734, during the conflict between Tan Suqua and Tan Hunqua, and at about the same time that Cudgin and Beaukeequa left the trade.¹ Texia’s Chinese name was Yan Deshe (顏德舍), but, according to the family genealogy, he also went by the names Yan Liangzhou (顏亮洲), Yan Qizhan (顏淇瞻) and Yan Chuoting (顏綽亭). Simon’s name was Huang Ximan (黃錫滿). The two men traded out of the Taihe Hang (泰和行), but also ran the aishun Hang (泰順行). In the latter business, they fitted out junks each year for voyages to southeat Asia.²...

Mandarin Quiqua’s Chinese name was Chen Kuiguan 陳魁官 , but he was also known as Chen Kuaiguan 陳快官.¹ He originated from Amoy. He was a midlevel merchant who began in the early 1720s and whose business endured until 1794. His story is one of the rare examples we have of a smaller merchant family in operation for 70 years, which adds another dimension to our understanding of the trade.

There has been considerable confusion over the identity of Mandarin Quiqua, which is discussed in Appendix 10H. He and his son Chowqua (Zuguan 祖官) first appear in the records in 1724....

Cudgin¹ is the earliest of the Ye merchants about whom we have information. His Chinese name is unknown, but we know he was a member of the Ye family. The name of his business was the Duanhe Hang 端和行 . Nothing is known of his early years in trade, but he was probably involved in the junk trade in Fujian. When he appears in the foreign records in the early 1720s, he was already well established and connected to inland merchants and markets. He traded in a wide range of products, with good credit and reputation. In all likelihood, he...

Little has been written about the Zhang merchants in Canton, partly because they were not among the most wealthy or powerful men in trade, and partly because of a lack of information about them in English and Chinese sources. Like Leunqua and Consentia Giqua in Chapter 11, the Zhangs’ successes show that small to mid-level operators had some key advantages over larger houses. As businesses grew, they became targets for government extractions and the assumption of failed merchants’ debts, which meant profits needed to grow faster than debts to ensure they would survive. It was a precarious balance to maintain,...

The Liang merchants who were active in Canton in the fi rst half of the nineteenth century have received much attention in the historical literature. These men traded out of the Tianbao Hang 天寶行 . Their ancestral home in Whampoa is a favourite site today for historians to visit.¹ The earlier Liang merchants, however, who operated in the early eighteenth century, have been given almost no attention. This outcome was largely due to a lack of data available about them in the English and Chinese sources.

With new information now unearthed, I can tell the stories of two Liang men...

The merchants of Canton and Macao were central to the rise and advancement of international trade and commerce in the eighteenth century. They were the mediators between China’s supplies of tea, porcelain and silk and foreign demands for more of those products. Demand for Chinese products in Europe, India, and later the United States, was driving the trade. Without that demand, there would be nothing to write here. The products purchased in China were mainly luxury items and tea, which meant that the trade depended heavily on foreign consumers having expendable incomes. Thus, before the China trade could begin or...