Part of a series of Watercolor on rice paper, context for the all set:

View of the city of Canton, nowadays Guangzhou, on the banks of the Pearl River, showing clusters of ships gathered at port. Lined along the waterfront, multiple two and three-storey buildings of European architecture. Two are flying the French flag and another the flag of the United States, corresponding to two of the thirteen international trading factories of Canton, side by side with various Cantonese merchant buildings.

The entire neighbourhood was known locally as the “Thirteen Factories”, referred to by the Chinese community as “hong”, or merchant shops, the term “factory” having its origin in “factor,” an old English word for “commercial agent”. Each one of the buildings included living quarters, warehouses and trading offices and, although their impressive facades copied classical Western designs, their inner spaces looked very much like typically Chinese. This specific block of buildings was destroyed by fire in 1822, 1841 and 1856, and eventually moved to Shamian Island farther upriver.

By the second quarter of the 19th century, Canton was a large, densely populated walled city. Foreign mercantile activity took place outside the city centre, the newcomers confined to a tiny district on the banks of the river, segregated from the native population. For the Chinese, their Westerner neighbours were just a small component of a vast commercial network, spanning the whole of China and encompassing a large maritime zone.

The Ming emperors had confined Western trade to the town of Macao on the Pearl River estuary, but their successors, the Qing Dynasty would, in the 18th century, expand access to Canton. The Manchu court favoured foreign trade, under very specific conditions, and as long as it was conducted under government regulation. Canton was chosen as the most convenient port, both for the Chinese administration and the foreign traders.

The Chinese had, over the centuries, developed relations with various different peoples and ethnic groups, each having its specific place and role. They referred to alien peoples as “tributaries”, meaning those who came to pay tribute or bring gifts to the emperor, out of gratitude for his benevolent rule. The Westerners who arrived in China to trade, immediately joined these “tributary” ranks. From the Qing officials’ point of view, Westerners were just one other, amongst many groups who admired and sought to profit from their relationship with the flourishing empire.

Western ships not being allowed to sail upriver from Whampoa, this last stage of this trading journey was dominated by Chinese vessels of all types, as it is clear in this small painting. From small low sampans, living quarters for Chinese families, to junks and larger ships carrying officials and flying the imperial standard, all vessels converged to the port of Canton. The most impressive ship depicted in the foreground belonged to the hoppo, the official superintendent of maritime customs for Guangdong province, responsible for collecting duties and channelling them directly to the imperial coffers, and for managing orderly trade in Canton.

In this highly organised and hierarchic network, a special guild of merchants, the Co-hong, were granted a monopoly over trading with foreigners. After paying the hoppo substantial sums for this privilege, these hong merchants would attain considerable profits from their access to foreign trade. Since the Cantonese already had over a century of experience dealing with the Portuguese in Macao, they could take care of the new arrivals without much difficulty.

The Chinese whom Westerners saw most often were the sampan people. Each trading company commissioned licensed Chinese merchants, called compradors - a Portuguese word meaning “buyers” - to take charge for provisioning the factories and the ships. The comprador often organized the entire round voyage from Macau to Canton, taking care of official permits (“chops”), pilots and supplies. His men would also guard the factories once the traders departed. The sampan sellers provided all sorts of other services: barbers for the Europeans, coal, charcoal, firewood for fuel, while others specialized in ships’ supplies, as well as products like ducks on nearby farms and eggs.