Page 129 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

115.

who invested in consignments to their houses. Both groups

maintained social intercourse, the Hong merchants visiting the

Factories and in turn inviting Americans (including their

families) to dine with them and to visit their country estates
25
outside Canton. Some individuals formed close associations,

which they maintained through correspondence after the Amer­

26
icans returned home. Both groups shared a mutual interest
in a profitable foreign trade without obstacles at Canton. This

interest predisposed them toward amicable relations.
1
In the 1780 s when American merchants first arrived at

Canton, they distinguished themselves from the Europeans by

their forthrightness and fairness in trade with the Chinese

merchants. Perhaps they were naive, but such behavior gained

them the respect of the Hong merchants. The latter were also

pleased to discover the size of the United States and the
27
potential markets therein for their teas and silks. Through­

out the following years of trade, relations between the two

groups remained very friendly and mutually beneficial . . Amer­

icans traded primarily on a cash basis which their Chinese

counterparts found very satisfactory. For their exports of

25
Diary of H. Low, Feb. 3, 1830, Library of Congress,
Low Family MSS. Hunter, 'Fan Kwae' at Canton, p. 40. Abeel,
Journal, p. 124. The Hong merchants' country estates were
located on Honam, a large island in the Pearl River across
from Canton.

26
For an excellent example, see J.P. Cushing's Letterbooks
in Harvard Business School, Baker Library, Bryant & Sturgis MSS.
27
The Journals of Major Samuel Shaw, the American Consul
at Canton, ed. by Josiah Quincy (Boston, 1847), pp. 183, 198-99.
Shaw related an amusing storv of trading with a Chinese merchant,
who told him, "Truly, Massa Typan17 I see very well you no hap
Englishman. All China-man very much love your country."