Houqua and His China Trade Partners in the Nineteenth Century
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Global Positioning: Houqua and His China Trade Partners in the Nineteenth Century The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Wong, John. 2012. Global Positioning: Houqua and His China Trade Partners in the Nineteenth Century. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University. Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:9282867 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA © 2012 – John D. Wong All rights reserved. Professor Michael Szonyi John D. Wong Global Positioning: Houqua and his China Trade Partners in the Nineteenth Century Abstract This study unearths the lost world of early-nineteenth-century Canton. Known today as Guangzhou, this Chinese city witnessed the economic dynamism of global commerce until the demise of the Canton System in 1842. Records of its commercial vitality and global interactions faded only because we have allowed our image of old Canton to be clouded by China’s weakness beginning in the mid-1800s. By reviving this story of economic vibrancy, I restore the historical contingency at the juncture at which global commercial equilibrium unraveled with the collapse of the Canton system, and reshape our understanding of China’s subsequent economic experience. I explore this story of the China trade that helped shape the modern world through the lens of a single prominent merchant house and its leading figure, Wu Bingjian, known to the West by his trading name of Houqua. I demonstrate that a large measure of Houqua’s success stemmed from his ability to maintain an intricate balance between his commercial interests and those of his Western counterparts, all in an era of transnationalism before the imposition of the Western world order. The story of Houqua is at once local, regional, and global. Houqua’s business success certainly amplified the economic vitality in Canton. However, this analysis of his business success is less an examination of the Canton system than a study of the impact of an exceptional operator within this system who, through his personal business endeavors, set in motion changes that had ramifications for China’s development and the global system at large. His success in global business illustrates the construction of networks of trust for the purpose of facilitating economic exchange in the advent of an enforceable, unified international system of arbitration. iii The experience of his successors tells the story of the diverging economic fortunes of global traders operating formerly on equal footing. This is a story not only of an exceptional individual but also of the dynamic setting of transnational business when regional networks negotiated their connections in the emerging modern world. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................... vii Introduction ...............................................................................................................................1 Houqua and the Nineteenth-Century Canton System in Global History ...................3 Chapter Outline .......................................................................................................10 Chapter 1. A Study of the Structural Context: The Worlds Colliding in Canton. ........................................................................16 A Family on the Move .............................................................................................16 China’s New World .................................................................................................25 A Different New World Experience ........................................................................30 Forming the Nexus of International Trade in Canton .............................................42 The International Port Took Shape .........................................................................51 Chapter 2. Ingratiating Himself into an Existing Institution just to Subvert it: Taming the Lion at Home. ..................................................................................59 The Rising Tide of the British Empire ....................................................................59 The British EIC Flexing its Muscles .......................................................................66 Houqua’s Family Enters the Stage ..........................................................................71 Houqua Coming to the Fore ....................................................................................80 Configuring the Market to Deal with an Overpowering Buyer ...............................88 Taming an Important but Difficult Trading Partner ..............................................101 Chapter 3. Weaving His Own Trading Network: Breaking Free with the Eagle. ...........................................................................114 Finding a Common Language for Capitalistic Exchange .....................................115 Calculated Risks ....................................................................................................122 Choosing Strategic Partners and Sanitizing Opium Exposure ..............................129 Completing the Circulation in the Network: What to do with the Money? .........134 The Uses of Laws, or Not ......................................................................................139 Chapter 4. Sustaining Trust in a Delicate Network of Trade: Overcoming Business Uncertainty over Time and Space.................................154 The Continued Chain of Delegates in Canton .......................................................156 Express Use of Portraits and the Prototype of a Global Iconic Image ..................157 Replicating the Image ............................................................................................165 Distilling the Image and Achieving Mass Dissemination .....................................168 Trying Times .........................................................................................................178 Trust Tested ...........................................................................................................182 v Chapter 5. To Reorganize or To Be Recognized: Reconstituting Business in a Reconfigured World of Global Business. ...........192 Houqua’s Succession Plan .....................................................................................195 The Lasting Appeal of Canton to Houqua’s American Partners. ..........................208 Houqua is Dead, Long Live Houqua? ...................................................................220 Global Financier or Just a Gold Mine? .................................................................225 Young Houqua’s Attempt to Break into the New System ....................................229 Brand Name Appropriated ....................................................................................237 Self De-globalization of Houqua’s Family ...........................................................240 Chapter 6. Legacy of a Farsighted Entrepreneur: Houqua’s “Swiss Account” in America. ...........................................................247 A “Blind Trust” Hidden from Many .......................................................................250 The Different Layers of Houqua’s Deep Pockets ...................................................252 Reaching into the Secret Compartment of the Deep Pockets .................................258 The Size of and the Holdings in this Treasure Trove .............................................262 Dissolution of the Trust and Gradual De-Personification of the Relationship .......267 The End to the Partnership ......................................................................................279 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................................284 Fusing Networks: Local, Regional and Global ....................................................284 Elements of Flows .................................................................................................294 Directing Flows and Shaping History ...................................................................300 Epilogue ...........................................................................................................................307 Bibliography ...........................................................................................................................317 vi Acknowledgements From its inception, this study has taken more than five years to reach its present form. Many have accompanied me along this long journey and to them I will be forever indebted. Professor Michael Szonyi has not only provided a guiding force to this project every step of the way but also assumed the impossible task of helping with the many life problems of this “mature” student. Professor Hue-Tam Ho Tai has offered generously her insightful comments and helped with the logistic challenges at Harvard and beyond. In addition to inducting me into the study of financial history, Professor Niall Ferguson has served as my model of productivity in research and teaching. Professor Elisabeth Köll has demonstrated for me time and again how to