Page 197 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780

CHAPTER 5 Porcelain Trade at Canton 1740-1760

5.3. The Steady Growth of Enamelled Porcelain Trade

Between 1740 and 1760, the market division between under-glazed blue and

enamelled wares became more evident, and the large quantity of blue and white was

controlled by Hong merchants, while smaller quantities of fine enamelled porcelain

were left to dealers with smaller capital. The previous section of this chapter showed

a fluctuated trade pattern of blue and white, I will show in this section that the trade

of enamelled porcelain of this period enjoyed a steady growth. I will then explain why

it occurred.

The theory of formal and informal market explains perfectly the porcelain trade

pattern at Canton. In their article, Mark Casson and John S. Lee have explored the

18
market development historically from the twelfth century onwards. In this article,
they argued that market development was slower than normally assume, institutional

arrangements, large-scale consumers as well as the competition between markets

certainly played important role in markets development. What is more important to

my research is their analysis on informal market. According to them, informal market

always played prominent role in the trade. R. Bin Wong made similar argument even

stronger in the context of Chinese markets of the eighteenth century. Wong argued it

was the informal factors that facilitated the commercial expansion of the eighteenth-

19
century China.

Although their research focused on a wider scope about how markets developed,

18 Mark Casson and John S. Lee, ‘The Origin and Development of Markets: A Business History
Perspective’ Business History Review, 85, 01(2011), pp. 9-37. For informal market of the eighteenth
century China, see, R. Bin Wong, ‘The Political Economy of Chinese Rural Industry And Commerce
in Historical Perspective’, Études Rurales, 1(2002), pp.153-164.
19 R. Bin Wong, ‘The Political Economy of Chinese Rural Industry And Commerce in Historical
Perspective’, Études Rurales, 1(2002), pp.153-164.
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