Page 83 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

69.

round residence in the Factories became necessary to conduct

business more efficiently. After 1826, with the growth of the

large American commission houses at Canton, the Americans felt

compelled to remain in the Factories year-round to conduct their

trade. For a price they obtained the tacit permission of the

local authorities to do so. As the trade expanded and their

own wealth accordingly increased, these officials came merely

35
to disregard the constant presence of foreigners at Canton.
After circumventing the regulation of the trading

season, the foreigners began to chip away at other restrictions.

By a combination of silence, bribery and judicious tact the

foreign merchants discovered they could prevent local officials

from enforcing many of the trade ordinances. The maintenance

of proper appearances was more important to many Chinese by

this time than the actual circumstances. Not only did the

foreigners remain in the Factories with impunity, they violated
1
many of the regulations governing the trade. By the 1830 s they

had created a flourishing smuggling trade in order to avoid

any port charges and fees. Vessels unloaded their cargoes

at one of the Outer Anchorages and did not sail up to Whampoa.

Much of this cargo was opium. Such violations of Imperial laws,

often flagrantly open, were in part the cause of the crises

over opium and trade in 1839.

1
Until the late 1830 s the "Canton system" worked
efficiently and successfully for both foreigners and Chinese.

35
Hunter, 'Fan Kwae' at Canton, pp. 85-86. H.B. Morse,
The International Relations of the Chinese Empire (New York,
1918), p. 277.