Page 25 - Export Porcelain and Globakization- GOOD READ

of the Chinese government.
Canton had several advantages in comparison to other Chinese harbor cities,
which finally led to its trading monopoly with East India companies from the West.
First, geographically it was easy to reach for ships coming from the Indian Ocean
being in the far South of China at the northern rim of the South China Sea. Also, it
was not too far away from the tea growing areas of China and relatively easy to reach
by river transport from Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province. Second, foreign ship traffic
was easy to control as it did not face the open sea, but lay inland at the Pearl River.
The river could only be used by bigger vessels with the ebb and flow of the tide. In
addition, the Pearl River Delta forms a labyrinth of water arms, sandbanks and small
islands, which makes the use of Chinese pilots necessary which acted as another way
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to control in- and outgoing ships . Third, the proximity of the Macao Peninsula – the
Portuguese settlement since 1557 – was an advantage for finding translators,
experienced Chinese merchants and to settle port fees and duties. The East Indiamen
were guided upstream along the Pearl River by Chinese pilots to the Island of
Whampoa (pazhou) just a couple of kilometers in the east of the city where their cargo
was unloaded and loaded. The import-export business of the East India companies
was in the hands of so-called “supercargoes” (daban). They represented the company
to the Chinese authorities and the Hong merchants.
Pic. 11: Map of Canton, Macao and the mouth of the Pearl River, copper
engraving by Bellin

The thirteen factories district was outside the city walls, in the south west along the
river. The foreign companies were allowed to rent the buildings but not allowed to
enter the city itself. The buildings and two, later three, streets in-between the

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