Page 251 - 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

trading policies. The establishment of craft guild of enamelled porcelain production

in Canton indicates the maturity of Canton enamelled porcelain industry in the late

eighteenth century.

6.8. Conclusion

Focusing on a crucial period of the Canton trade, this chapter has shown the important

factors that have stimulated the trade and the production of enamelled porcelain. The

confinement of Canton as the single port and the Co-Hong has been widely read as

reflecting a passive attitude from the Qing Government to trade. However, as this

chapter has shown, the actual trade in reality was different from what they had

assumed. As non-Hong merchants, porcelain dealers benefited from these changes. I

have shown that the regulations on shopkeepers and outside merchants actually did

not restrict trade but on the contrary, reaffirmed the permission for them to deal with

foreign traders in private account. The confinement of Canton further brought

porcelain dealers a more predictable and less risky trading environment. The

establishment of Co-Hong helped them to build a closer network with foreign

companies. Some of them took advantage and joined the tea trade and transformed

themselves from small dealers into Hong merchants. The rest probably took advantage

of good timing to set up their own manufacture. Combining all the factors, a new

situation emerged which led to the most important development of enamelled

porcelain production and trade. Canton became a major enamelled porcelain

production site.

235