The Hong Merchants of Canton: Chinese Merchants in Sino-Western Trade, 1684-1798

by Cheong,Weng Eang

• ISBN13: 9780700703616
• ISBN10: 0700703616
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1997-06-25
• Publisher: RoutledgeCurzon

Summary

Breaking new ground, this study eschews the uncritical acceptance of secondary sources, returning to and reinterpreting previously neglected primary sources. The work sheds new light on this period and will be of interest to economic historians beyond the field of the old China trade.

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(25)
The Historical Setting	1	(10)
The Hong Merchants	11	(6)
A New Approach	17	(3)
Notes	20	(6)
1 The Early Merchants, 1684-1740	26	(53)
The Early Period	26	(18)
Transition	44	(19)
Conclusion	63	(3)
Notes	66	(13)
2 The Merchant-Bureaucrat, 1740-98	79	(49)
The Merchant-Bureaucrat: The Second Type of Hong Merchant	79	(1)
Early Merchant-Bureaucrats, 1740-80	80	(8)
Later Merchant-Bureaucrats, 1780-98	88	(2)
Developments in the 1790s	90	(2)
Functional and Legal Definition	92	(10)
Merchants in the Administration	102	(6)
The European Response, 1740-98	108	(3)
Transformation of the Foreign Trade, 1780-98	111	(5)
Conclusion	116	(3)
Notes	119	(9)
3 The Leaders and Their Firms, 1684-1796	128	(63)
Chief Merchants and Their Environment	128	(3)
The Duopoly (Linqua and Anqua, 1701-20)	131	(3)
Suqua	134	(10)
Cudgin	144	(3)
Young Khequa	147	(8)
Beau Khequa	155	(4)
Phuankhequa I	159	(5)
Leadership, Officials and Institutions	164	(6)
Munqua I	170	(5)
Conclusion	175	(3)
Notes	178	(13)
4 Officials and the Trade	191	(55)
The Hoppos	193	(20)
Charges and Duties	213	(17)
Conclusion	230	(3)
Notes	233	(13)
5 Merchant Debts	246	(53)
The Debts	246	(20)
The Aetiology of Debts	266	(20)
Conclusion	286	(4)
Notes	290	(9)
Reappraisal	299	(42)
The Hong Merchants	299	(6)
Patterns, Trends and Cycles	305	(10)
The Leaders and Leadership, 1684-1798	315	(4)
The Canton System and Ch'ing Foreign Policy	319	(18)
Notes	337	(4)
Histogram of Seventy-Nine Hong Merchants in the European Trade at Canton, 1686-1798	341	(7)
About the Histogram	341	(1)
Key to Histogram	342	(1)
Notes on Individuals	342	(2)
Histogram	344	(4)
Glossary	348	(2)
Sources	350	(5)
References	355	(4)
Index	359