Page 84 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

70.
The Chinese, by creating self-seeking conditions to which

foreigners had to submit to trade, very effectively exploited

foreign trade for their own profit. Foreign merchants neces­

sarily had to trust implicitly those Chinese with whom they

dealt for protection and for profit. The fact they did so

manifested the eagerness of foreigners to trade with China,
36
Imperial regulations and restrictions notwithstanding. The

"Canton system, " in the eyes of the Chinese, operated as

everything in life should, for the benefit of all participants.

This system allowed commercial profits for the foreign mer­

chants beyond the regulations and restrictions on the trade.

Although claims have been made that the Canton system

milked much of the profits Western merchants made at Canton,

such a charge was not heard at Canton until the late 1830's.

Before the crisis over opium the foreign merchants, especially

the Americans, acquiesced to the "Canton system" because that

system worked so well for them. Within the restrictions they

.c
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d
t
re-aine d b roa powers OL d ecision. 37 The Chinese furthermore
provided a wide variety of services to the merchants. Through
the Security merchant and the Linguist all custom-house
business was accomplished without bother to the foreign mer­
chant. Most importantly, foreign merchants found their

36
Morse, Relations of the Chinese Empire, p. 280.
37
Morse, Relations of the Chinese Empire, pp. 278-79.