The golden ghetto : the American commercial community at Canton and the shaping of American China policy, 1784-1844 / Jacques M. Downs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Downs, Jacques M., 1926- author.

Series:

Echoes (Hong Kong, China)

Echoes : classics of Hong kong culture and history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Americans--China--Guangzhou--History.

Americans.

Merchants--China--Guangzhou--History.

Merchants.

Guangzhou (China)--Commerce--History.

Guangzhou (China).

United States--Foreign economic relations--China.

United States.

China--Foreign economic relations--United States.

China.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (507 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Hong Kong : HKU Press, [2014]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Before the opening of the treaty ports in the 1840s, Canton was the only Chinese port where foreign merchants were allowed to trade. The Golden Ghetto takes us into the world of one of this city's most important foreign communities--the Americans--during the decades between the American Revolution of 1776 and the signing of the Sino-US Treaty of Wanghia in 1844. American merchants lived in isolation from Chinese society in sybaritic, albeit usually celibate luxury. Making use of exhaustive research, Downs provides an especially clear explanation of the Canton commercial setting generally and of the role of American merchants. Many of these men made fortunes and returned home to become important figures in the rapidly developing United States. The book devotes particular attention to the biographical details of the principal American traders, the leading American firms, and their operations in Canton and the United States. Opium smuggling receives especial emphasis, as does the important topic of early diplomatic relations between the United States and China.

Contents:

Introduction to the republication of the golden ghetto

Foreword

Introduction

The golden ghetto

Old Canton and its trade

American business under the old system

Opium transforms the Canton system

The residents and their firms

The dominant firms

The other houses

The China trader

Cushing's treaty

The creation of an official policy

The mission to China

Retrospection

Epilogue : the legacy of old Canton

List of abbreviations

Appendix 1. Wade-Giles-Pinyin equivalents

Appendix 2. Statistics and the American trade

Appendix 3. A note on the silver trade

Appendix 4. Known partners of American firms at Canton, 1803-44

Appendix 5. Commercial family alliances

Appendix 6. Robert Bennet Forbes's correspondence with Warren Delano, 1879

Appendix 7. A note on sources.

Notes:

"First published in 1997 by Associated University Presses, Inc."--Title page verso.

"With a new introduction by Frederic D. Grant, Jr."--Cover.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed December 5, 2014).

ISBN:

988-8313-32-0

OCLC:

900223849