Page 93 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

79.

ever reneged on his word. Of all aspects of life at Canton,

the American merchants remembered this remarkable mode of com-

merce most favorably. "The transacting of Lbusines.§.7 was of

the pleasantest, nothing being left undone to render it easy

and convenient in all its branches." At least one American

much preferred doing business at Canton than in the United

49
States.
There existed another group of Chinese merchants about

whom Americans were also very complimentary. These merchants

were the "Outside merchants" or "Chow-chow men" (San-shang or

miscellaneous merchants). Their name derived from their circum­

stance of being "outside" the Co-hong.and from their merchandise

being "chow-chow" articles or sundries. Theoretically all for­

eign trade was legally within the jurisdiction of the Co-hong.

Yet the Hong merchants only retained trade in the major imports

(ginseng, raw cotton, cotton and woolen cloths) and exports
50
(teas and silks) . The Outside merchants dealt in the trade's

minor articles such as chinaware, lacquer ware, ivory, fans

and fireworks. In 1828 the Imperial government indirectly

sanctioned this trade by promulgating a list of items delegated

to management by the Hong merchants. This list omitted the

49 . . .
Hunter, Bits o· 2 The Hong merchants'
f China, p. 2 2.
honesty and integrity are attested to in Hunter, 'Fan Kwae' at
Canton, pp. 95-96, and Hughes, J.M. Forbes Reminiscences, I,
225-26. In a letter John Perkins Cusing stated his preference
for the trade system at Canton, Letter, J.P. Cushing to T.T.
Forbes, Dec. 10, 1828, Bryant & Sturgis MSS.
50
H.B. Morse The Chronicles of the East India Company
.,,,
Trading to China, 1635-1834 (5 vols.; Cambridge, England, 1926),
III, 325.