This study utilizes a wide range of new source materials to reconstruct the day-to-day operations of the port of Canton during the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries. Using a bottom-up approach, it provides a fresh look at the successes and failures of the trade by focusing on the practices and procedures rather than on the official policies and protocols. The narrative, however, reads like a story as the author unravels the daily lives of all the players from sampan operators, pilots, compradors and linguists, to country traders, supercargoes, Hong merchants and customs officials. New areas to studies of this kind are covered as well, such as Armenians, junk traders and rice traders, all of whom played intricate roles in moving the commerce forward. The Canton Trade shows that contrary to popular belief, the trade was stable, predictable and secure, with many incentives built into the policies to encourage it to grow. The huge expansion of trade was, in fact, one of the factors that contributed to its collapse as the increase in revenues blinded government officials to the long-term deterioration of the lower administrative echelons. In the end, the system was toppled, but that happened mainly because it had already defeated itself. General readers and academicians interested in world and Asian history, trading companies, country trade, Hong merchants, and articles of trade will find much new and relevant information here.
Paul A. Van Dyke’s new book, Whampoa and the Canton Trade: Life and Death in a Chinese Port, 1700–1842, authoritatively corrects misconceptions about how the Qing government treated foreigners when it controlled all trade in the Guangzhou port. Van Dyke reappraises the role of Whampoa in the system—a port twenty kilometres away from Guangzhou—and reassesses the government’s attitude towards foreigners, which was much more accommodating than previous research suggested. In fact, Van Dyke shows that foreigners were not bound by local laws and were given freedom of movement around Whampoa and Canton to the extent that they were treated with leniency even when found in off-limit places. Whampoa and the Canton Trade recounts the lives of seamen who travelled half-way around the globe at great risk and lived through a historic period that would become the framework for subsequent encounters between China and the rest of the world. Were it not for the exchanges between the major powers and the Qing empire, the world—as we know it—would be a rather different place. Hence, Van Dyke’s command of data mining shows that Whampoa was a key pillar in the Canton System and, thus, in the making of the modern world economy. ‘Paul Van Dyke has transformed our understanding of the Canton trade. In this book, he brings his enormous knowledge of the primary sources to this study of Whampoa, the anchorage on the Pearl River used by all foreign ships when that trade was confined to the port of Canton, presenting “a view of the trade from the common seaman’s perspective.”’ —Evelyn S. Rawski, University of Pittsburgh ‘Paul A. Van Dyke wonderfully brings to life the drudgery and danger faced by the diverse men who worked the ships of the Canton trade. He skilfully fashions vivid images of the texture of their lives from danger to boredom, from illnesses and accidents to drinking and whoring.’ —R. Bin Wong, UCLA
Paul Van Dyke works in many languages and archives to uncover the history of Peark River trade. This two-volume work is likely to be the most definitive reference work on the major trading families of Guangzhou. Organized as a series of family studies, this first volume includes exhaustive profiles of nine of the dominant hongs and their founding patriarchs for which good information survives: Tan Suqua, Tan Hunqua, Cai and Qiu, Beaukeequa, Yan, Mandarin Quiqua, Ye and Tacqua Amoy, Zhang, and Liang.
Merchants were central to the huge growth in China’s foreign trade and contributed to the development of world markets and networks. Merchants of Canton and Macao: Success and Failure in Eighteenth-Century Chinese Trade brings together much new research about the inner workings of the merchants of Canton and Macao. The book studies in detail the leading Chinese merchants and merchant families as well as the porcelain and silk trades. By examining the successes and failures of dozens of Chinese merchants involved in foreign trade, it provides fresh insights into China’s unique form of capitalism and her role in the rise of global commerce. Van Dyke’s conclusions on the nature of Qing policy towards foreign trade are bold, original and supported by intensive research. In contrast to the traditional focus on British and American trade, his research draws on archives in multiple languages, spread around the world. ‘Like its predecessor, this volume offers a detailed and vivid reconstruction of business practices based on a remarkable collection of archival sources in Chinese and diverse European languages. It will be especially welcome by economic historians as well as anyone who wants to understand global history as it played out in a particular place.’ —R. Bin Wong, Distinguished Professor of History and director of the Asia Institute, UCLA ‘Once again Paul Van Dyke has plumbed the depths of the archives to provide us with an extraordinary catalogue of the activities of European and Chinese traders during the heyday of the Canton trade. In this second volume of his encyclopedic study, Van Dyke focuses in detail on the transactions that took place between foreign private and company traders and Chinese licensed merchants.’ —Madeleine Zelin, Dean Lung Professor of Chinese Studies, Columbia University ‘This is a great study which will be the ultimate work on the subject for many years to come. It is as complete as the available documentation at present makes possible; it is concise, well organized and the subject is researched with great thoroughness.’ —Christiaan Jörg, author of Porcelain and the Dutch China Trade
Hundreds of Chinese export paintings of Canton trading houses and shopping streets are in museums and private collections throughout the world, and scholars of art and history have often questioned the reliability of these historical paintings. In this illustrated volume, Paul Van Dyke and Maria Mok examine these Chinese export paintings by matching the changes in the images with new historical data collected from various archives. Many factory paintings are reliable historical records in their own right and can be dated to a single year. Dating images with such precision was not possible in the past owing to insufficient information on the scenes. The new findings in this volume provide unprecedented opportunities to re-date many art works and prove that images of the Canton factories painted on canvas by Chinese artists are far more trustworthy than what scholars have believed in the past.
Hundreds of Chinese export paintings of Canton trading houses and shopping streets are in museums and private collections throughout the world, and scholars of art and history have often questioned the reliability of these historical paintings. In this illustrated volume, Paul Van Dyke and Maria Mok examine these Chinese export paintings by matching the changes in the images with new historical data collected from various archives. Many factory paintings are reliable historical records in their own right and can be dated to a single year. Dating images with such precision was not possible in the past owing to insufficient information on the scenes. The new findings in this volume provide unprecedented opportunities to re-date many art works and prove that images of the Canton factories painted on canvas by Chinese artists are far more trustworthy than what scholars have believed in the past.
Merchants were central to the huge growth in China’s foreign trade and contributed to the development of world markets and networks. Merchants of Canton and Macao: Success and Failure in Eighteenth-Century Chinese Trade brings together much new research about the inner workings of the merchants of Canton and Macao. The book studies in detail the leading Chinese merchants and merchant families as well as the porcelain and silk trades. By examining the successes and failures of dozens of Chinese merchants involved in foreign trade, it provides fresh insights into China’s unique form of capitalism and her role in the rise of global commerce. Van Dyke’s conclusions on the nature of Qing policy towards foreign trade are bold, original and supported by intensive research. In contrast to the traditional focus on British and American trade, his research draws on archives in multiple languages, spread around the world. ‘Like its predecessor, this volume offers a detailed and vivid reconstruction of business practices based on a remarkable collection of archival sources in Chinese and diverse European languages. It will be especially welcome by economic historians as well as anyone who wants to understand global history as it played out in a particular place.’ —R. Bin Wong, Distinguished Professor of History and director of the Asia Institute, UCLA ‘Once again Paul Van Dyke has plumbed the depths of the archives to provide us with an extraordinary catalogue of the activities of European and Chinese traders during the heyday of the Canton trade. In this second volume of his encyclopedic study, Van Dyke focuses in detail on the transactions that took place between foreign private and company traders and Chinese licensed merchants.’ —Madeleine Zelin, Dean Lung Professor of Chinese Studies, Columbia University ‘This is a great study which will be the ultimate work on the subject for many years to come. It is as complete as the available documentation at present makes possible; it is concise, well organized and the subject is researched with great thoroughness.’ —Christiaan Jörg, author of Porcelain and the Dutch China Trade
This study utilizes a wide range of new source materials to reconstruct the day-to-day operations of the port of Canton during the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth centuries. Using a bottom-up approach, it provides a fresh look at the successes and failures of the trade by focusing on the practices and procedures rather than on the official policies and protocols. The narrative, however, reads like a story as the author unravels the daily lives of all the players from sampan operators, pilots, compradors and linguists, to country traders, supercargoes, Hong merchants and customs officials. New areas to studies of this kind are covered as well, such as Armenians, junk traders and rice traders, all of whom played intricate roles in moving the commerce forward. The Canton Trade shows that contrary to popular belief, the trade was stable, predictable and secure, with many incentives built into the policies to encourage it to grow. The huge expansion of trade was, in fact, one of the factors that contributed to its collapse as the increase in revenues blinded government officials to the long-term deterioration of the lower administrative echelons. In the end, the system was toppled, but that happened mainly because it had already defeated itself. General readers and academicians interested in world and Asian history, trading companies, country trade, Hong merchants, and articles of trade will find much new and relevant information here.
Paul A. Van Dyke’s new book, Whampoa and the Canton Trade: Life and Death in a Chinese Port, 1700–1842, authoritatively corrects misconceptions about how the Qing government treated foreigners when it controlled all trade in the Guangzhou port. Van Dyke reappraises the role of Whampoa in the system—a port twenty kilometres away from Guangzhou—and reassesses the government’s attitude towards foreigners, which was much more accommodating than previous research suggested. In fact, Van Dyke shows that foreigners were not bound by local laws and were given freedom of movement around Whampoa and Canton to the extent that they were treated with leniency even when found in off-limit places. Whampoa and the Canton Trade recounts the lives of seamen who travelled half-way around the globe at great risk and lived through a historic period that would become the framework for subsequent encounters between China and the rest of the world. Were it not for the exchanges between the major powers and the Qing empire, the world—as we know it—would be a rather different place. Hence, Van Dyke’s command of data mining shows that Whampoa was a key pillar in the Canton System and, thus, in the making of the modern world economy. ‘Paul Van Dyke has transformed our understanding of the Canton trade. In this book, he brings his enormous knowledge of the primary sources to this study of Whampoa, the anchorage on the Pearl River used by all foreign ships when that trade was confined to the port of Canton, presenting “a view of the trade from the common seaman’s perspective.”’ —Evelyn S. Rawski, University of Pittsburgh ‘Paul A. Van Dyke wonderfully brings to life the drudgery and danger faced by the diverse men who worked the ships of the Canton trade. He skilfully fashions vivid images of the texture of their lives from danger to boredom, from illnesses and accidents to drinking and whoring.’ —R. Bin Wong, UCLA
From the serial murders of Jack the Ripper to the Great Train Robbery, the real-life crimes documented by Scotland Yard rival the thorniest cases of such resourceful fictional detectives as Sherlock Holmes, Jane Marple, and Hercule Poirot. Gathering together a dazzling array of true crime stories, this fascinating history of the world's most famous police department presents detailed portraits of the colorful characters who have left their mark on British law enforcement: magistrate Henry Fielding and his Bow Street Runners; Charles Rowan and Richard Mayne, the architects of England's new police force; and a rogues' gallery of notorious criminals--from Constance Kent, the 16-year-old child killer whose ingenious coverup almost fooled Victorian detectives, to a raft of modern-day terrorists including foreign extremists, IRA gunmen, and drug overlords. Elegantly written and filled with intriguing information, this book is a fitting tribute to those staunch upholders of British justice, the "sharp-eyed blokes'' of Scotland Yard. --Publisher description
Auto mechanic Jason Crabb flees town with a newborn Down's Syndrome baby who, at the direction of the parents, was being allowed to starve to death. When the story hits the news, Crabb finds himself at the center of a political firestorm which could prove to be a watershed for the pro-life movement--but which also puts his own family in grave danger.
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