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Once in Canton, the foreign traders were in theory almost totally restricted to the Factories. There they ate, slept and worked. Women were not permitted, but Chinese servants and supporting staff were allowed to work at the factories. Of the 1760 rules, a significant one for our purposes was that the teaching of the Chinese language to foreigners was prohibited on pain of death by decapitation.
With a large volume of trade to be carried out between people with no common language, one party of whom were only permitted to remain for a few months each year, and the other party of whom faced the death penalty if they taught their own language to foreigners, clearly a certain compromise was required.
I believe that Pidgin English was developed over a fairly short period of time by the young Chinese men who obtained work in the Factories. Hunter describes them.
"These servants were unequalled; at the same time, they never considered themselves menials, but as makee larm; that is to say, serving in order to become familiar with pigeon English, that in due time they could become pursers or clerks in Chinese hongs or shops trading with people of the Western Ocean. While in service with their foreign masters, they were considered and known by the appellation “se-tsai”, or business youths. They were usually relatives of the compradors who provided them with places and secured them."
To understand the motivation of these young men, you must also understand the position of the Hong merchants themselves, as described by Hunter —
"The position of Hong merchant was obtained through the payment of large sums of money at Pekin. I have heard of as much as 200,000 taels, say £70,000 sterling. If the licence they acquired was costly, it secured to them uninterrupted and extraordinary pecuniary advantages.
Many of the young makee-larn were the close relatives of the Hong merchants. There were not uneducated villagers, but young men, highly motivated by material gain, who had received at least a good standard education, were literate, and stood a chance to become millionaires if...