Page 230 - The colours of each piece: production and consumption of Chinese enamelled porcelain, c.1728-c.1780

CHAPTER 6 A New Context of Porcelain Trade 1760-1770

some of the poorer Security Merchants to lend their names to less

privileged hands of Men who not being licensed to carry on such business

are called outside men or shop-men. Among these outside men are many

whose names are a better recommendation of Teas and Silks than those of

43
several Hong merchants.
When Co-Hong required more dealers to participate in trade, these shopkeepers

and outside merchants became the main group to co-operate with. This resulted in a

win-win situation. For Hong merchants, they could now collect more duties and

charges to the local government from those outside merchants. For small outside

merchants and shopkeepers, they were now entitled to the right to deal directly with

foreign traders, although they had practiced in this way in the previous period, but

from 1760 onwards, it was official and legal. In addition, if they worked closely with

the Hong merchants, they would also have the chance to deal in tea.

In order to control these shopkeepers, a specific street was created for these shops.

It was newly built on the waterfront at Whampoa and a watch would be posted on

each side in order to obstruct the passage to the city and keep the seafarers in order.

Before 1760, the Chinese shops and merchants were scattered throughout the western

suburbs, on a dozen or so streets. A Swedish map shows the porcelain shops on an

east street and the silk shops on a north south street located a couple of blocks north

43 Jean McClure Mudge, Chinese Export Porcelain for the American Trade, 1785-1835
(University of Delaware Press, 1981). LCP, Mcneilledge, ‘Notes’, pp.28-29.
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