Chinese Trade in the Early

Chinese Trade in the Early 19th Century

Were the conflicts that occurred during the Chinese trade activities in the early 19th Century more about law and the perception of law -- or were they more about economics? That is the subject of this paper, and it is the assertion in this paper that indeed the many conflicts related to that period of Chinese history were more about law than economics -- albeit the wars also had implications for the economics of that era.

Laws and Trade: Background Into The Issues. If one is looking for evidence that law in China in the early 19th Century was very strict and adhered to, there is ample evidence to support that position. Indeed, the Canton system had been a trading center for over a thousand years prior to Westerners arriving, according to Perdue. It is clear from Perdue's description of the city and the way it was laid out that civil law was king in Canton. Foreigners were welcome to come and trade with the Chinese, but they were restricted to a portion of the city between the city walls and the waterfront. It was taboo for a foreigner to venture out into the city proper, and certainly was not legal for a foreigner to go into the country to see what the Chinese life was like.

In the "Canton Happenings" section of Perdue's essays the people that foreign traders saw most often in China were the Chinese who lived on the water in small boats. China's power structure wanted it that way. Again, a law was to be obeyed. "Aside from infrequent contact with a Chinese official, and daily business with Chinese merchants, the Chinese whom Westerners saw most often were…sampan people" (Perdue). Strict rules made the act of trading as smooth as possible. The compradors were in charge of providing the large ships with enough food and supplies to keep the men fed and happy; and the compradors' job was to escort the ships from Macau to Canton, and to provide linguists (because the law forbid foreigners from studying the Chinese language), fuel, and prostitutes as well.

Meantime another example of how law came into play during the trading period of Chinese history was the February 24, 1807 riot that led to the death of a Chinese man. The Chinese threatened to torture Mawqua if he didn't "deliver up the killer" (Perdue). Fifty two sailors were basically interrogated and put on trial. One sailor was detained but later released after four English pounds were paid as a penalty.

In the Terranova incident (1821) (a Chinese woman was drowned allegedly after being hit in the head by a jar Terranova, a worker on an American ship) the Chinese were perfectly willing to suspend all trade (representing a lot of money) until the conflict was settled. Again, here is evidence that laws (and of course, Chinese honor) were more important than the economic benefit of trade.

Opium smuggling of course played a profoundly important role in tensions between the Chinese authorities and traders sailing their ships into Chinese harbors. The fact that China tried to cut off exports of tea to the British -- unless the British would stop bringing in opium to China -- shows again that laws and morality in China were of higher importance than the economy. The war that ensued in 1839 (the first "Opium War") because the Chinese attempted to blockade the factories and keep the foreigners out. The British also won the second "Opium War" in China and the law changed in China to allow opium as a legitimate trading item. It took a war to get the Chinese in the right frame of mind to change the law.

This is a key to the argument put forward in this paper. The Chinese didn't seem at all bothered when their trading partners were banned from coming into the country due to laws and morality. So the economy has been hampered, so what? The Chinese seemed to say we have our rules, our values, our laws, and we're not going to back down even if it means a curtailing of the financial benefits that trade (even trade in opium) can bring to us.

Hong Kong was actually a colony, "a frontier boomtown," in Perdue's words. It was ruled by the British and frequented by the Americans and other foreigners. But Canton was a place that was owned by and ruled by the Chinese, and while it is easy to understand that they had a perfect right to protect their city, their population and their way of life, going to war to protect their values (at the risk of harming their economic system, i.e., their country's financial lifeline) shows the reader that it was more about laws than about economics.