[ { "id": 209257, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 160, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "146\n\nWEI PEH-TI\n\nNavigation channels were so situated that the passage into Canton foreign ships had to take because of their deep drafts was well protected, Juan Yüan thought. \"The western channel of the Pearl estuary from Macau [where the barbarians live] to Canton is too shallow for foreign vessels because they have a deep draft. They, therefore, must use the Lantao Channel into the estuary, then proceed northward between Lintin Island and the Nan-t'ou Peninsula, straight up to the Boca Tigris and into the Pearl River.\"8\n\nJuan Yuan had found the military installations outside the Boca Tigris generally satisfactory. Fortifications inside the Boca Tigris, on the other hand, were found by Juan Yüan to be less than tolerable. Immediately upon his return to Canton, he sent a memorial requesting the Emperor's approval for construction of several forts. Apparently he was so impressed with the forts at Macau, especially Fortaleza da Santiago, built in 1629, that he copied its design for a fort on Tiger Island, situated at the entrance to the Bogue.\"Juan Yuan was proud of this fort, financed by the merchants of the co-hong to the tune of 60,000 taels, both for its strategic location and for its equipment.\"\n\nThe Co-hong (kung-hang) was a guild organized in 1720 by the hong merchants of Kwangtung and Fukien. It adopted a code of thirteen articles to regulate trade at Canton. After 1782, its members controlled the foreign trade at Canton altogether. Business firms engaged in foreign trade, the hong (yang-hang), as well as individual hong merchants (yang-shang), rose and fell during the era when Chinese foreign trade was confined to Canton.\n\nThe unique functions served by the hong merchants gave them certain privileges. These privileges carried with them certain obligations without necessarily exempting them from government prosecutions should they fall afoul of the law. Several hong merchants had been awarded honorary official ranks with all the attendant status symbols. In addition to subscribing to programmes usually expected of members of the gentry, these hong merchants had to assume financial responsibilities for other public projects during this period as well, such as coastal defense. Even more than the officials, they were subject to imperial pleasure and ire. The second merchant by the name of Howqua, also known as Puiqua, Wu Tun-yüan, for instance, enjoyed the honoraria of a third-rank official in happier days, including the status symbol of wearing the sapphire (clear, blue stone) button of the third rank on his hat.1 He had worked closely with Juan Yuan on several controversial cases involving jurisdiction over foreigners from 1820 to 1823. Even then,\n\n12", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209258, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 161, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "JUAN YUAN'S MANAGEMENT OF SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS IN CANTON, 1817-1826 147\n\nWu, chief of the hong merchants at that time, was blamed for the increase in opium traffic. In 1821, at the suggestion of Juan Yüan, Wu's button was removed by imperial decree in the wake of strengthened anti-opium campaign.\n\nWu Tun-Yuan, as chief of the hong merchants, appears to be leading the others in conniving with foreigners to smuggle opium into China. After all, no hong merchant has yet reported the presence of this contraband item on any of the ships he was securing. Meanwhile, opium import continues to be on the increase. Wu's third rank button should be removed herewith.13\n\nThe hong merchants were constantly in debt to foreign merchants because the latter provided the former with advances to pay duties and taxes as well as ordinary business credit. The Consoo fund, established by a special levy on foreign trade, was supposed to provide credit to the hong merchants, but it had to be supplemented by further advances from the foreign traders at Canton. Moreover, hong merchants were often called upon to make contributions to various government programmes. Juan Yuan as Governor-General, for instance, decided on the amount the merchants were to give to the Chia-ch'ing Emperor on the occasion of the imperial sixtieth birthday.\n\n[Juan Yüan] fixed upon the Sum of 300,000 Taels as an Offering on the part of the Hong merchants to the Emperor upon the attainment of his sixtieth year, which will take place this year, and which Sum is to be levied in cash in two installments in proportion to the respective amount of duties paid to Government by each Hong.14\n\nFollowing Juan Yüan's proposal, the hong merchants duly offered to the Emperor the gift of 300,000 taels, two-thirds of which were accepted.\n\n16\n\nDuring the following year, the hong and salt merchants contributed 300,000 taels and again 500,000 taels more to “military and engineering expenses\". In 1826, to help suppress the Kashgar Rebellion they contributed 600,000 taels. When the hong merchants were unable to meet their obligations to the foreign merchants, they were imprisoned like ordinary debtors. In 1825, Puiqua was jailed when the Parsee merchants made charges against him for non-payment of 300,000 taels.15 Even after death, hong merchants had to honour their debts to the foreign merchants. The Chinese government aided in enforcing such payments,", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209259, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 162, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "148\n\nWEI PEH T'I\n\nholding the Co-hong responsible in cases of inability to pay on the part of the individual merchants. When Conseequa died bankrupt in 1822 owing 22,528 taels in unpaid duties to the Canton Customs, and 172,207 dollars to foreign merchants, Juan Yüan took action. Conseequa's property in Canton was confiscated and sold for 22,354 taels. Another 174 taels were underwritten by other hong merchants. This amount totalling 22,528 taels, was paid to the Canton customs. Although Conseequa's son was not held responsible for his father's business failures, he was nevertheless blamed for \"letting things deteriorate further after his father's death\". He should have made arrangements to settle his father's debts to the foreign merchants, thus avoiding the ensuing problems. He was, therefore, to forfeit all his property in his native province, Fukien, as well as the title and privileges his father had purchased for him in 1820 through the chian-na system. His debts to the foreign merchants were to be assumed by the other hong merchants who, in turn, were to take over the business of his hong. In making decisions to discipline the hong merchants, Juan Yüan sought to control the foreign traders at Canton.\n\n18\n\nThe working relationship between the hong merchants and the foreign traders at Canton was in general a cordial one. The language used in foreign trade was English. There were interpreters on both sides known as \"linguists\" to the foreigners. The best known foreign linguist was Dr. Robert Morrison. The hong merchants themselves tended to use \"pidgin\", a mixture of Chinese, English, Parsee and Portuguese. The foreigners thought that the hong merchants as a whole were “honorable and reliable in all their dealings, faithful to their contracts, and large [as opposed to narrow] minded\". As exemplified by the existence of the Consoo fund and advances in both directions, foreigners and the hong merchants worked well together under ordinary circumstances. Puiqua was especially known for his generosity. Despite being caught himself in cash shortage situations from time to time, at least once he tore up a 72,000 dollar promissory note signed by an American merchant who, because of the note, had been stranded in Canton. In cases of dispute between the foreign and hong merchants, settlements were usually made by arbitration.\n\nIt was in criminal cases that the hong merchants' position as intermediary between the foreigners and the Chinese government took on special significance. If the issue at hand involved jurisdiction over a foreigner who had caused the death of a Chinese, a crisis situation invari-", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209261, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 164, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "150\n\nWEI PEH-T'I\n\nSince the case of the Lady Hughes in 1784, foreigners had been decrying the barbarity of Chinese justice. On 24 November that year, a British vessel, the Lady Hughes, carrying cargo for the country merchants (individual merchants permitted by the East India Company to trade between India and points east), fired a salute to Chinese officials on shore at Canton. Unfortunately, the gun was loaded with live ammunition instead of blanks. The gunfire injured three minor Chinese officials, two of whom subsequently died from their wounds. By Chinese reckoning, the gunner of the Lady Hughes, in firing the salute, had committed murder, therefore he was subject to Chinese justice. After the British refused to surrender the gunner, Chinese authorities at Canton seized the supercargo of the British factory, isolated the factory itself, and stopped British trade. As a result, the British yielded and the gunner was surrendered to the Chinese. He met the fate of apprehended Chinese murderers, that of being put to death swiftly by strangulation. This incident brought to the fore foreign resentment against the Canton system and their having to submit to Chinese justice which they could neither understand nor condone. Subsequently, foreigners, the British in particular, were reluctant to hand over their nationals who had committed crimes against the Chinese to Chinese authorities. The Chinese meanwhile insisted on their right to dispense justice within their own land, thus leading to periodic impasses.\n\nJuan Yüan's first criminal case involving foreigners and local residents was a straightforward one, for the offenders were Chinese, and their offense was comparable to those committed by coastal pirates Juan Yuan had known on the Chekiang coast earlier. An American ship, the Wabash, secured by Puiqua, was docked at the anchorage at Taipa Island off the Port of Macau. Apparently, a group of Chinese on shore hurled insults at the seamen on 19 June, 1818, then proceeded to board the vessel, and plundered it. The raiding party left three Americans wounded, one of whom later died. Among the spoils taken were sycee silver and a quantity of opium. The presence of opium, a contraband, complicated the case considerably. It also provided Juan Yuan with the ammunition to deal harshly with the hong merchants.\n\nMacau was within the administrative jurisdiction of the district of Hsiang-shan, in Kwangtung. The Select Committee and a representative of the American merchants in Canton, referred to by Morse as \"the American consul\", brought the American complaint against the Chinese to Juan Yuan through Puiqua. Cognizant fully of the reality and implications of the circumstances, that the Chinese were wrong in boarding and", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209262, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 165, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "JUAN YUAN'S MANAGEMENT OF SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS IN CANTON, 1817-1826 151\n\nplundering a foreign vessel in Chinese waters, resulting in loss of life, but that the plundered goods consisted of a contraband commodity, Juan Yuan offered a reward of 3,000 dollars for the apprehension of the perpetrators of the crime. He refused, on the other hand, to compensate for the plundered property. The sycee silver would also be contraband had it been exported from China, but, as the ship had not yet entered a Chinese port, he could not argue this point. After two weeks of negotiations, the captain of the ship received from the Chinese authorities 824.50 dollars which had been recovered from the culprits, 2,000 dollars from Puiqua, and another 4,000 dollars from Juan Yuan's own funds, in compensation for the specie taken. Nothing was paid for the opium, but no immediate action was taken against the ship's having contraband goods on board in Chinese waters either. Immediately thereafter, Puiqua adroitly arranged for the ship to leave Taipa in order to avoid further complications on the opium issue.\n\nMeanwhile, the Chinese concerned faced the full force of the law. Five men were arrested for looting the Wabash and for murdering the American. They were beheaded or put to death by the slow process of slicing off the limbs before being decapitated. This was the traditional Chinese punishment meted out to captured pirates who had raided ships. For his failure in ensuring that foreign ships desist from bringing in opium, Juan Yuan directed Puiqua to subscribe to certain public service projects to the tune of 160,000 taels. Punkhequa had wanted other hong merchants to contribute 5,000 taels each towards this amount, but Conseequa bargained for 4,000. As a result, Puiqua had to pay the amount himself, while three other hong merchants were directed to contribute to other projects. Thus, Juan Yuan made it clear to the hong merchants how their purses were to suffer should they continue to condone the importation of opium, and, even more so, should they choose to haggle over the amount of the fine decided by the authorities. As a result, the hong merchants announced to the foreign traders that they would no longer \"secure any ship whose commander has not signed a Bond, engaging that he will not smuggle Opium....\" The hong merchants also relayed to the foreigners Juan Yuan's message that Chinese authorities would search the ships for possible cargoes of opium. While various elements of the foreign community debated, the intended search was dropped by Juan Yuan. Perhaps one reason for his decision not to insist upon the search was the presence of an armed British frigate, H.M.S. Orlando, at Chuenpi. He was not to take a strong stand on the opium issue until 1821.26\n\nPage 165\n\nPage 166", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209263, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 166, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "152\n\nWEI PEH-TH\n\n8\n\nThe killing of a Chinese man and wounding of three boys in P'an-yü by a member of the crew of a British vessel, the London, on 27 November 1820, was the first major crisis handled by Juan Yüan involving jurisdiction over foreigners who had committed crimes against Chinese nationals. On 27 November 182o, in broad daylight, a cutter from the London, a ship belonging to the East India Company, sailed “a considerable distance\" beyond Whampoa into a branch stream of the Pearl River, in search of fresh water. On the cutter was the fifth mate of the London, a man by the name of Pigott, and five other crewmen. They had a musket with them. Upon landing at P'an-yü, the men were taunted by a number of boys throwing stones and shouting \"obscenities\" at the foreigners. To frighten away the boys, Pigott fired two volleys, the first one loaded with peas and the second what he thought was \"blank cartridge” but which turned out to be live ammunition. A Chang Shun-ts'un who was hanging up laundry at the stern of a Chinese rice boat nearby, shouted at the boys to disperse. Pigott's second shot entered Chang's chest on the left side, killing him instantly. Meanwhile, three boys all surnamed Ch'en, were wounded on the nose, foot and toes, respectively. While there was pandemonium ashore, the cutter departed, pursued by two Chinese boats, thus it was ascertained that the cutter had come from the London. Later on, despite Pigott's assertion that he had fired what he believed to be blank cartridge, indicating that at least he had known something of the consequences of his shooting at that time, the British spokesman claimed that they had known nothing about the incident until two days later, when Puiqua brought them the news that a warrant had been issued by the Chinese for the arrest of the murderer at P'an-yü.\n\nNormal Chinese procedures under the circumstances would be to stop the offending ship from discharging and loading cargo, while demanding that the criminal be remanded to Chinese justice. After being informed of the incident, Juan Yuan gave instructions to the hong merchants to notify the supercargo of the East Indian Company in the British factory in Canton to bind the murderer over to Chinese authorities. Although the security merchant in this case was Exchin, because of the seriousness of the case, it was Puiqua who went to the British factory to apprise the Select Committee of the existence of the warrant. The Committee then proclaimed that they had known nothing about the incident until that moment. They suggested that Puiqua bribe the Chinese officials, but the hong merchant did not support the idea. Meanwhile, the Committee's primary consideration was “to avoid trouble and embarrassment to the Company's trade\", but Juan Yüan had already placed an embargo on the London.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209265, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 168, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "154\n\nWEI PEH-T'I\n\nthe Chinese point of view, Juan Yuan reported Barrowcliff as the guilty party in his memorial to the Emperor dated 12 December 1820. It was at this time that he wrote the secret memorial proposing strong measures to control the British, and receiving in return instructions from the Emperor to hold to a more moderate line.**\n\nPerhaps Juan Yuan only displayed the willingness to make the best of a situation in the Barrowcliff case, the kind of co-operative spirit that led the British to refer to him as a “man of singular moderation and wisdom”35 only because no opium was involved. The next major crisis over jurisdiction took place not quite a year later. By then, the new Emperor had proclaimed a policy to strengthen the law prohibiting importation of opium and exportation of silver. In October 1821, Terranova, an Italian seaman serving on an American ship, the Emily, accidentally killed a Chinese boat woman. He was sacrificed to Chinese justice in order to prevent the Canton government from investigating further into the cargo of opium that was on various foreign ships in port at that time. This is a well-known case in the West and is often cited as an example of the barbarity of Chinese justice. Terranova, who had been turned over to Chinese officials, was strangled to death as punishment for having taken a life.\n\nThe incident arose when on 29 September, a boat woman, Kuo-Liang shih (surnamed Kao née Liang), who spoke \"pidgin\", sculled her sampan to the Emily, peddling fruit. Terranova, leaning against the railing of the ship above her, lowered her five copper cash in a basket. Not satisfied with the number of oranges and bananas he had been given by the woman, he negotiated further. Somehow, the argument became heated, ending with Terranova throwing a pottery jar at the woman, hitting her on the head, cracking her skull, causing her to fall into the water, and resulting in her death. This was a serious matter, for, in addition to murder, there were other violations. Terranova, as a foreigner, was buying goods from a Chinese directly without going through the regular channel of the hong merchants. The security merchant of the Emily was Exchin, but, as in other serious cases over jurisdiction, Puiqua, as head of the hong merchants, was also involved.\n\nJuan Yüan's investigations showed that the act of the jar striking Kuo-Liang shih on the head had been witnessed by another woman, Ch'en-Li shih, who had shouted for help. A worker for the Canton customs, Yeh Hsia, in a boat nearby, attempted a rescue, but failed. The body of the dead woman was not pulled out of the water until her husband arrived at the scene of the accident. The injury on the woman's", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209266, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 169, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "JUAN YUAN'S MANAGEMENT 01 SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS IN CANTON, 1817-1826 155\n\nhead was a cut of 1 ts'un and 4 fen in length, and 3 fen deep. The cut had gone all the way to the bone. The captain and the owner of the American ship both inspected the wound of the dead woman,\n\nand pronounced that \"the woman in reality died from head injury and from drowning\".\n\nThe Americans agreed to submit Terranova to an investigation by Chinese officials, provided that the hearings were conducted on the American ship with Americans present. As a compromise, the \"ceremony\" of charging the prisoner was to be conducted on a Chinese war vessel that was to carry the Chinese official to the American ship. On 6 October, Captain Cowpland cleared all firearms from the deck of the Emily, stationed all hands at the forecastle, had Terranova without handcuffs on deck, and waited for the arrival of Chinese authorities. The Chinese officials were led by the magistrate of P'an-yù who was concurrently serving as prefect of Canton. Eight hong merchants were in attendance. The service of Dr. Morrison, who was then attached to the British factory, as a translator, was refused because Juan Yuan did not want to involve a third nation. After a lengthy debate during which Captain Cowpland argued successfully that no American prisoner was ever in irons during a trial, Terranova was \"surrendered\" to the Chinese with Puiqua pledging his safe return for trial on the Emily. Captain Cowpland accompanied Terranova and the hong merchants to the Chinese war vessel and back to the Emily.\n\nTestimonies of witnesses at the trial were somewhat different from the facts Juan Yüan had ascertained earlier. The Americans objected to the magistrate's allowing the presence of two children who were prompting the witness Ch'en-Li shih, and demanded that she speak in English, as her command of the language was superior to that of the translator or even Puiqua himself. When the woman's testimony deviated from what she had said before, an instrument of torture was brought aboard. The instrument was not used, although the woman insisted upon the later version of her testimony. Altogether, there were one thousand Chinese at the trial on board the Emily, and forty Americans. At the end of the session, the Chinese wanted to take Terranova with them. Captain Cowpland said: \"Come and take him,\" but the Chinese wanted the Americans to \"surrender\" the prisoner officially. While the Americans prepared for armed resistance, the magistrate proceeded to put Exchin, the ship's security merchant, and the Chinese linguist, Cowqua, in chains. Together with the overwhelming number of Chinese on board and other considerations such as opium in the hold, Captain Cowpland changed his mind", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209268, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 171, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "JUAN YUAN'S MANAGEMENT OF SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS IN CANTON, 1817-1826\n\n157\n\nopium grown in Turkey, the British cultivated poppy in India and brought opium into China. Selling this commodity for cash only, the British hoped to reverse the balance of trade at China's expense. In 1821, to put an end to this smuggling of opium into China and silver in the reverse direction, the Tao-kuang Emperor reiterated the court's anti-opium policy. As a result, Juan Yuan adopted strict measures against opium importation through the port of Canton. This thinking was behind his taking action against the hong merchants later on that year, in the wake of the Terranova case, especially when he removed the button from Puiqua's hat.\n\nIt was in the memorial requesting the removal of Puiqua's button that Juan Yüan's attitude on opium was revealed. He was concerned with the harmful effects of opium addiction. “Opium is grown overseas, but its harmful effects are most keenly felt in interior China. Its most serious damage lies in the moral degradation of the populace”.* The memorial also showed that Juan Yüan had known the sources of opium. He concluded that there were three major groups of foreign traders who carried opium in their cargo from West Asia and India.\n\n41\n\nThree major groups of foreign traders are the sources for our opium. Among these traders there are a number of merchants who come from across the Atlantic Ocean. They pick up cargoes of opium on their way to China. Moreover, the British merchants, in their private capacities, also bring with them this contraband commodity when they come to Macau. The Company, franchised by the British sovereign, does not officially engage in the opium trade itself. The American ship owners and captains constitute the last group of opium smugglers. They, not having any king to restrain them, bring in the commodity themselves in the holds of their ships.*2\n\n42\n\nThese foreign traders worked with the Chinese merchants in Canton and Macau who provided them with the marketing machinery to distribute opium. For this reason, Juan Yuan blamed the Chinese merchants, especially the hong merchants, for the thriving illicit opium trade.\n\nThe hong merchants are so close to the foreign traders that, although their smuggling activities could be kept dark from the officials, it is impossible for the hong merchants not to be aware of them. How can foreign ships bring contraband commodities for thousands of miles without being assured of a market here first? They, therefore, must work hand-in-glove with the hong merchants. The hong merchants appear to consider only their", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209269, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 172, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "158\n\nWEI PEH-T'I\n\nown profits, completely disregarding the damages done by opium addiction to the people. As Wu Tun-yüan [Puiqua] is the chief of the hong merchants, Your Majesty's consent is requested to have his third-rank button removed, for a couple of years at least any way, and see whether the hong merchants would still continue to connive in opium smuggling.\"\n\n4\n\nIn addition to Puiqua, sixteen opium dealers in Macau were jailed for their part in opium smuggling. One of them, a Yeh Huan-shu, confessed in detail about opium smuggling, including how officials were bribed. Juan Yuan also impounded cargoes and expelled ships that were found to be carrying opium, and burned the opium he had confiscated. “Although [these actions taken by Juan Yuan against the Chinese and foreign merchants] have not put an end to opium smuggling activities, they certainly have managed to stop opium at Lintin.\" Under such vigilance, the quantity of opium exported from India to China was held at a steady level until the next season. While demands increased, prices also rose. Statistics of consumption and value of Indian opium in China, including opium which had “passed the Company's sales in India and the Malwa opium which had come from the Portuguese port of Damaun”,** from the trading season of 1818-19 to 1827-28, show a sizeable increase in the quantity of opium imported into China after 1822-23, indicating that new methods of smuggling had been devised within two years of the strengthening of the anti-opium measures.\n\nAfter 1821 opium smuggling became confined to the islands at the mouth of the Pearl River, with the centre at Lintin Island. Macau and Whampoa were also free of opium boats. British sources cleared Juan Yuan from connivance in opium smuggling. C. Marjoribanks, Esquire, a director of the East India Company, testified before a Parliamentary committee investigating the opium trade that the \"higher officials at Canton were not involved in the smuggling activities\". Officials below the top level, however, were a part of the illegal trade. Official boats patrolling the waters off Canton reported regularly \"to the Canton authorities that they had swept the seas of all smuggling ships, yet, the ships remained there just the same\".\n47 As a result, the quantity of opium brought in during 1820-21 and 1821-22 remained steady, but prices jumped, indicating insufficient supply to meet demand, and there was a consistent increase in opium import from then on. The “value of Indian opium sold in Canton alone, without including other quantities deposited in the other parts of China”, increased from 2,951,000 Spanish dollars in 1817-18 to 11,243,496 dollars in 1827-28.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209274, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 177, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "JUAN YÜAN'S MANAGEMENT OF SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS IN CANTON, 1817-1826 163\n\ncommercial vessels.\n\nStill, the legacy of the Chia-ch'ing Emperor in offering kindness to foreigners was continued even at this time. In the midst of the Topaze crisis, there was the famous fire of Canton. On 1 November, the fire began in a cake shop outside the city wall, when the baker was careless with the pieces of brushwood he was using as fuel for melting sugar. \"The streets were narrow and the houses crowded together\", wrote Juan Yuan to the Emperor. \"Fanned by strong north winds, despite concerted efforts by soldiers and civilians, the fire could not be contained.\" It burned through the night and all of the next day, destroying \"more than 2,423 shops and extended to the foreign factories.\"64 A number of warehouses belonging to the hong merchants were destroyed. Puiqua and Mowqua especially suffered great losses. Sailors from the foreign ships managed to salvage some of the cargo in storage at the factories, but the factory buildings were burned. In the stampede of refugees from the fire and the looters, twenty-two people died. Puiqua petitioned to Juan Yüan on behalf of the hong merchants and foreign traders for remission of taxes owed. 140,243 taels of taxes due to the Canton Customs by the foreign traders were completely remitted. The hong merchants were excused from half of their taxes of 524,156 taels. They did not have to pay anything in 1823. In 1824, however, the other half of the taxes owed had to be paid, with each hong merchant's burden in proportion to the damages he had sustained. Chinese local shopkeepers who considered themselves well-to-do refused compensation from the government, but small shopkeepers as well as the Tanka boat people accepted money from welfare funds released by the province. The foreigners considered these measures fair play indeed.\n\n65\n\nWith the removal of British naval vessels from Chinese waters, threats to the Canton system were relaxed. Opium smuggling remained a major problem, but by 1823 the network of smugglers was well established, trans-shipping the contraband from foreign ships onto small local crafts outside the Bogue, so it was no longer a source of conflict between the foreign traders and Chinese authorities at Canton. Illegal payment in silver to the suppliers meant its exportation, which was forbidden by imperial decree. By the time Juan Yüan left Canton in the summer of 1826, the shortage of silver was already becoming evident. His successor became a part of the opium smuggling network as each patrol boat was paid a bribe of 36,000 taels a month to overlook the illicit trade.97\n\n64\n\nIn the summer of 1826 Juan Yüan was transferred to the post of", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 }, { "id": 209276, "series_id": 26, "series_slug": "histsyn-rashkb-journal-engine", "series_title": "RASHKB Journal 皇家亞洲學會香港分會學刊", "series_use_hku_proxy": false, "document_key": "RAS-1981", "page_number": 179, "title": "RAS-1981", "content_text": "JUAN YUAN'S MANAGEMENT OF SINO-BRITISH RELATIONS IN CANTON, 1817-1826\n\n11 Ti-tzu chi, 5:11.\n\n165\n\n12\n\nFour men were known by the name (or title) of Howqua. They were Wu Tung-yüan (Puiqua or Howqua II), his father Wu Kuo-yung (Howqua I) before him, his two sons, Wu Shou-ch'ang (Howqua III) and Wu Chung-yao (Howqua IV).\n\n13\n\nWai-chi-tang, (hereafter cited as WCT), n.p. Copy of memorial from Juan Yüan, Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, dated TK 1/11/19 (1821/2/21).\n\n14\n\n+6\n\n16\n\nMorse, Chronicles, III, 334.\n\nLiang-kuang yen-chik, chuan on Chia-ch'ing.\n\nIbid.\n\n17 Morse, Chronicles, IV, 57.\n\n18\n\nCopy of memorials from Juan Yüan, Governor-General of Kwangtung and Kwangsi, in Shih-liao Hsun-k'an 4:126a-b.\n\n19 W. C. Hunter, The \"Fan Kwae\" at Canton Before Treaty Days, 1825-1844, (Shanghai, 1911), p. 40.\n\n20 H. F. McNair, Modern Chinese History: Selected Readings, (Shanghai, 1913), 1:42.\n\n21 Chinese Repository, V:2:422 (January, 1834).\n\n22\n\nMorse, Chronicles, III, 377.\n\n23 Extract of letter from the Select Committee to the Court of Directors, East India Company, as reprinted in Parliamentary Papers, 21:104.\n\n24 Morse, Chronicles, III, 318.\n\n26\n\nIbid., 320.\n\n26\n\nWai-chiao shih-liao, Chia-ch'ing 6:57.\n\n27\n\n28\n\nLetter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers 21:537. Wai-chiao shih-liao, Chia-ch'ing 6:57b.\n\n20 Letter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers, 21:537.\n\n30 Morse, Chronicles, III, 381. In the listing of Company ships at Canton 1805-20, however, the security merchant for the London is given as Kinqua, Ibid.\n\n31 Letter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers 21:537.\n\n32\n\nIbid. After the crisis was over, it was revealed that Pigott had been hiding on a British warship, the HMS Liverpool, then moored at Lintin. He could not return to the London when it left China because of bad weather, but managed to return to England at a later date, Morse, Chronicles, III, 382.\n\n33 Letter from the Select Committee, Parliamentary Papers 21:539; Morse, Chronicles, III, 380.\n\n34 Morse, Chronicles, p. 380.\n\n35 Eliot to Palmerston, as cited in Chinese Repository IX:406 (August, 1842).\n\n**WCT-TK1/11, Chinese Repository, V:5:223.\n\n37\n\n*7 WCT-TK 1/11.\n\n38\n\nMorse, Chronicles, IV, 23.", "txt_file_path": "txt/dfo323lmgvd/RAS-1981.txt", "external_url": "https://digitalrepository.lib.hku.hk/catalog/ff36bt18m", "rank": 0 } ]