S01E03 Foreign Trade and Foreign Settlement

Chinese Revolutions: A History Podcast

Foreign Trade at Canton and the Foreign Settlement

As we get up to the Taiping Rebellion, we're looking at the Opium Wars as the historical background. In this episode, pay attention to the ordinary Chinese in and around foreign traders.

Portuguese Macau

In 1554, the Portuguese formally rented Macau from the Ming Dynasty. It was the foreign foothold right on the Chinese coast, the one place that held up in the transition from the Ming to the Qing Dynasties.

Missionaries and traders would start in Macau before venturing further up the Chinese coast or further into the country.,

Foreign Trade

Most of the material for today's episode comes from Stephen Platt's Imperial Twilight.

The British East India Company sent ships regularly to China starting in 1717. From 1725-1805, trade in tea increased by 100 times to 24 million pounds a year taken out of Canton.

The main issue for the British in wanting to open up trade with China was volume: more trade, more space, more than Canton and the constricting local traders and elites.

Foreign Settlement in Canton

The foreign settlement was a walled off area at the edge of Canton. Chinese traders and laborers could come in, but foreigners couldn't really leave. Chinese owned the buildings and ran the staffing.

Pidgin English developed as a way to communicate between Chinese and Europeans for business. ("Pidgin" actually means something like "business.")

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