Page 112 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

CHAPTER III

AMERICAN MERCHANTS IN THE CANTON SYSTEM"
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Throughout the period before 1844, the number of Ameri­

can resident merchants at Canton remained small. Not until

1845, three years after the opening of four other treaty

ports, did the American population in China exceed one hun­

dred. From 1815 to 1844 the average number of resident Ameri­

cans was about thirty. Before the War of 1812 very few for­

eigners actually resided at Canton. This was especially true

of the Americans, who had yet to organize a trading company.

After the War resident agents began doing the work formerly

assigned to the supercargoes. In a highly speculative trade

a resident merchant could keep better informed about market

conditions at Canton. The number of American residents nat­
urally increased, but this increase brought the total to only

1
twenty merchants. In the 1830 s more American merchants ven­

tured to Canton with the appearance of commission houses and

an expanded trade. During that decade American missionaries

first entered China, although for the most part they resided
1
at Macao instead of Canton.

1
Determining the total popul'ation of American residents
in any given year is extremely difficult, as very few lists are
available. H.B. Morse, in his Chronicles of the East India Company
Trading to China, 1635-1834 (5 vols.; Cambridge, 1926), gives par­
tial lists and numbers for random years. The Chine3e Repository, a
newspaper published by American missionaries in China, published
a census of foreign residents for the year 1836 and then regularly

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