Page 8 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

English had begun a new era in China's contact with the West.

Americans, who feared that the English would take advantage of

their new status of equality with China, reluctantly acknow­

ledged the change created by the Opium War and the Treaty of

Nanking.
Before 1839 Westerners had resided in China only on

Chinese terms. This limited their presence in the Celestial

Empire to the port of Canton for the sole purpose of trade.

The Chinese, who considered all foreigners (wai-jen or "outside

men," that is, outside China) to be inferior "barbarians, 11

had established a set of regulations and restrictions to govern

the Western traders at Canton. Known as the 1 1Canton system,"

these laws kept Westerners under the strict control of the

Imperial government. When American traders first arrived at

Canton in the 1780's, this system had operated efficiently over

European traders for over a century. The Americans, newly-inde­

pendent and eager for the teas and silks of China, willingly

acquiesced to Chinese rules. Motivated by their desire for

commercial profit, American traders did not resent Chinese

assumptions of superiority. Instead, they sought to succeed

within the "Canton system. 1 1 The first Americans to arrive at

Canton were extremely individualistic, adventuresome and com­

petitive. �hese characteristics had pushed them across oceans

to India and the East Indies and to the Pacific Northwest and

the Hawaiian Islands on their way to China. American seacaptains

endured storms, shipwrecks and native pirates in the name of

trade. Th2y considered the inconveniences of the 11Canton system 11

another challenge to overcome.
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