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This article reconstructs the history of the Yan family, a prominent merchant house in Canton, during the mid-eighteenth century (1734–1780s). Historically, research on the Yans was hindered by the difficulty of correlating romanized names found in European records with Chinese genealogical sources, leading most scholars to focus narrowly on the figure of Yan Yingshe (Ingsia). Drawing on newly identified data from Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and Belgian archives, alongside the Yan family genealogy, this study identifies three generations of Yan merchants, beginning with the patriarch Texia (Yan Deshe) in 1734 and continuing through his sons Swetia (Yan Ruishe), Ingsia, and Limsia (Yan Linshe). The findings demonstrate that the Yan family played a pivotal role in the Canton trade, managing complex operations that included the silver-for-tea export business with European East India Companies and an extensive junk trade network in Southeast Asia. By establishing forward and backward linkages—from personal quality control in the Chinese interior to maritime logistics across the Pearl River Delta—the Yans exemplified the sophisticated business practices that propelled early modern global commerce. This reconstruction provides a more comprehensive understanding of the merchant dynasties that shaped the maritime economy and the evolution of the Canton System before the 1780s.

This article examines the commercial activities of five members of the Ye family—Cudgin, Leunqua, Giqua, Tiauqua, and Yanqua—who operated within the Canton trade system between 1720 and 1804. While maritime historiography often focuses on the dominant "large houses" such as the Yan and Pan families, Paul A. Van Dyke argues that the Ye merchants provide a vital counter-narrative, representing the "small merchants" who navigated the trade with distinct strategies. Utilizing a range of European archival sources, including records from the English, Ostend, and Danish East India companies, the study reconstructs the business operations and social trajectories of these figures. The findings reveal that most Ye merchants adopted a cautious, thrifty approach, eschewing the aggressive expansion and heavy foreign debt characteristic of their larger competitors. They typically relied on middlemen rather than direct agents in China’s interior. Significantly, the article highlights Cudgin and Yanqua as rare, documented examples of Chinese merchants who successfully retired with substantial fortunes, challenging the traditional view that such financial preservation was nearly impossible under the Canton System. By detailing their involvement in the porcelain and tea trades, the article offers a more nuanced understanding of the economic diversity, risk management, and social mobility present in the eighteenth-century Pearl River Delta.

This article reconstructs the trajectory and commercial networks of the Cai and Qiu family firms in Canton between 1730 and 1784, arguing that the expansion and resilience of these groups depended both on mercantile alliances and on strategies of identification and succession within a fragmented and polysemic documentary environment. The methodology is based on the "cross-reading" of European and colonial records—especially Belgian mercantile diaries and ledgers (the Ostend General Company of the Indies), Dutch resolutions and account books, and English sources—comparing variant spellings of names, family relations (father, partners, and "sons" in lists and inventories), and chronologies inferred from events such as marriages and the commencement of commercial activities. Van Dyke shows that "Hunqua" appears repeatedly with multiple nominative possibilities, requiring careful discrimination among individuals sharing the same surname, branches, and associated family names. From this disentangling, the study more confidently attributes to Cai Hunqua (identified in Dutch series as "Young Honqua" and later "Tjayhonqua") a central role in trade with European companies and in the consolidation of a lasting alliance with the Suqua/Chen. It concludes that, by mapping genealogies and encoding onomastic ambiguities, it is possible to recover the internal functioning of mercantile houses and their long-term connections within the Atlantic-Asian system.

Paul A. Van Dyke's article proposes an integrated reading of the relations between Manila, Macao, and Canton, arguing that these Southeast Asian ports—created within the context of Iberian expansions—shared trajectories conditioned by common dynamics in the South China Sea. Rather than treating each space as an isolated unit, the author reconstructs historical connections from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries to demonstrate how commerce, religion, and international conflict simultaneously shaped local economies and societies, linking the interests of the Pearl River Delta to Philippine and Atlantic-Iberian circuits. Methodologically, the text combines historiographical synthesis with a contextual reading of events and transregional networks, articulating sources and studies on interdependent markets, Christian missions, and military interventions by European powers (particularly the English and Dutch) in the archipelago and maritime routes. As its main findings, the article demonstrates that Protestant competition against the Portuguese and Spanish functioned as a "regional factor" that affected Manila and Macao in similar ways, with repercussions in Canton and its port ecosystem. It concludes that understanding social, political, and economic developments in Macao (and, by extension, in Hong Kong and the region) requires considering Philippine flows and agents and, above all, the structural interactions that continued to "tie" these spaces together over time, including the significance of the Balmis episode of 1805 as a meeting point of these imperial communities.

The article reconstructs, based on Dutch documentation and other foreign archives, the role of Weaver Suckin in the Canton silk trade between 1750 and 1781. The central contribution is to shift the historiographical focus from the macroeconomic structures of cultivation and annual silk volume to the mediators and producers who actually negotiated, prepared, and exported fabrics, particularly under regulatory regimes that limited the types and quantities of merchandise. It is argued that such restrictions, unlike the tea and porcelain trade, imposed smaller margins through reduced volumes, making it more difficult to attract foreign capital and pressuring weavers to meet external demands within governmental limits. Methodologically, the study follows Suckin through corporate and private records (VOC, SOIC, and DAC), combining agents' and supercargoes' annotations with contracts and nominal references; the identification of the character is critically discussed in light of orthographic variations and the existence of homonyms in Canton. As results, the article shows Suckin already consolidated by the late 1750s, active in transactions with the VOC via Hong houses and with other European agents, evidencing his position as a relevant figure in the production and circulation of exportable silk. It concludes that the nominal and documentary reconstruction allows for the recovery of the agency of an "outsider" partially invisible in the most common sources, offering a more integrated reading of Sino-European mercantile networks.

The article investigates the historiography and social functioning of "floating brothels" in the Pearl River Delta between 1750 and 1930, contrasting two key contexts: the vessels of Whampoa, known to foreigners as "lob lob boats," and the "flower boats" (or barcos floridos) of Canton. The main thesis argues that, although frequently described in Western sources as places of "debauchery," these institutions were instead mechanisms integrated into the port economy and into relations among merchants, sailors, and local authorities. Methodologically, the author undertakes a critical reinterpretation of historical sources and contemporary representations, articulating differences in clientele, regulation, and operating practices. It is argued that in Whampoa, the floating brothels served both foreigners and Asians, functioning as part of the "riverine landscape" and, at the same time, as indirect instruments for managing the foreign presence, with mediation and oversight by the mandarins. In Canton, by contrast, the "flower boats" supposedly served mostly Chinese men, maintaining an exclusivity that depended on their functional connection to a broader ecosystem of floating services. It is concluded that these boats should be understood as sociopolitical and economic institutions, and not merely as spaces of depravity.

This article revisits the cartography and historical documentation of commerce in the "Foreign Quarter" of Canton between 1760 and 1843, challenging the historiographical belief that three continuous commercial streets—New China Street, (Old) China Street, and Hog Lane—existed throughout much of the late modern period. The central thesis contends that, during this interval, only two streets structured retail and supply in the sector controlled by foreigners: the thoroughfare later associated with China Street (originating in 1760) and Hog Lane (recognized by sources at least since the 1740s). Methodologically, the author undertakes a critical comparative reading of maps, travel accounts, European archival records, and iconographic evidence (plans and views of the factories), confronting the names, locations, and chronologies attributed in secondary works with primary sources. The results indicate that "New China Street" did not constitute a third functional artery prior to 1822; it appears after the fire that destroyed the factories, when access was redefined and a new street was established in the context of reconstruction. Thus, the review clarifies the policy of segregation and surveillance of the Co-hong (公行) and contributes to a more precise reconstruction of the commercial geography of foreign Canton.

This article analyzes the so-called "Hume Scroll" (1772), a rare visual record of the landscape of the port and the factories of Canton, in order to reinterpret the relationships between licensed foreign trade and the activity of Chinese junks bound for Southeast Asia. The central argument posits that the “foreign factories” did not function as separate and isolated spaces within the Chinese maritime economy, but rather as shared residential-commercial and operational hubs, administered by different institutional branches (Waiyang Hang and Bengang Hang) which, in practice, interacted more than traditional historiographical narratives assumed. Methodologically, the study combines dating based on architectural and biographical evidence (aligning constructive elements with Hume’s chronology) with a systematic identification of the buildings and their possible occupants, comparing the iconography with recent discoveries and administrative documentation. The author also critiques "top-down" approaches that derive historical models primarily from gazetteers, edicts, and memorials, without verifying the actual implementation of policies. As main results, the article demonstrates that the scroll enables the visualization of connections between firms of different administrations and highlights the coexistence of foreign and Chinese operations within the same port infrastructure. It concludes that understanding the transformations of the wharf and quotidian interactions is decisive for reconstructing how trade actually operated in Canton.

The artisans who were active in Canton from 1700 to 1842 are some of the most elusive figures of the China trade. Despite the enormous quantity of artefacts that they produced, and which are now housed in private collections and museums throughout the world, the authors left very little information behind about themselves. It was not until the Americans entered the China trade in 1784, that we begin to have more extensive information about some of these artists and craftsmen.

Pinqua’s example is one of the few we have of an outside merchant working for many years as a successful porcelain dealer and then becoming a Hong merchant. At the time of his appointment in 1782, Pinqua had thirty-five years of experience dealing with foreigners and had earned a good reputation as a dependable and trustworthy merchant. However, despite that past experience, it proved to be insufficient to overcome the challenges he faced as a Hong merchant. Not only did that new position require him to trade in a much wider variety of goods, but Pinqua also had to assume the debts of failed men, which meant he needed to trade in much larger volumes in order to generate enough income to service those payments. As a Hong merchant, he was called upon by Chinese officials — including the emperor — to supplement administrative budgets when they failed to meet the needs at hand. Even though Pinqua was said to be ‘rich’ when he began his appointment, within five years he was having serious cash flow problems. Pinqua’s demise is testimony to the negative influences that surrounded the Hong merchants and led to most of their businesses ending in failure.

Anqua was a prominent Chinese merchant who was active in Amoy in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He supplied cargos to the ships of the East India companies as well as private vessels from India. In the early years of the eighteenth century, Anqua had a falling out with officials in Amoy which resulted in his business accumulating a substantial debt. He nonetheless continued to trade with foreigners and he owned a junk which sailed to Canton. In 1704, Anqua relocated to Ningbo and Chusan where he continued to supply cargos to foreign ships. He eventually gained the favour of an official in Beijing, who honoured him with a special licence to trade. In 1713, Anqua moved to Canton, but he was not able to gain a foothold in the trade there, as he had previously done in Amoy. In 1723, he returned to Amoy, and then disappears from the records.

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The Canton Register

Leanqua and Anqua were prominent merchants in China who were unknowingly two of the founding fathers of what later became known as the Canton System 'yikou tongshang' (一口通商). The Qing government opened China to foreign trade in 1684, but it took several decades of experimenting with different policies before a common set of regulations emerged. The two partners operated in the period from 1685 to 1720, so they experienced at first hand all of the difficulties during these early years of the development. They were involved in both the Chinese junk trade to Southeast Asia and the foreign trade at Canton. They had very extensive connections with suppliers in China's interior and they regularly dealt with prominent merchants throughout Southeast Asia, including Java, Malaysia, and Siam. They also developed close relations with officers of the Dutch, English, and French East India companies.

This collection of articles transcends our usual time markers by covering the period from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Crossing the traditional historical barriers can often lead to new discoveries. When we explore interactions beyond traditional borders we often find continuities where there were previously only divisions and similarities where there were only differences. The case studies in this volume discuss a wide range of topics from economics, cross-dressing and extraterritoriality to personal biographies, Chinese art and Confucian education. They provide a broad view of China’s interactions with the outside world over a 150-year period.

*Armenian Footprints in Macao* analyzes the elusive presence of Armenian traders in Macao during the Canton trade era (ca. 1680s–1842), arguing that Armenians occupied a distinctive niche as private or “country” merchants who linked Macao, Canton, Manila, and India while often operating beyond the *grandes compagnies* yet within their networks. Because Armenian records from Macao are scarce or non-existent, the study reconstructs their activities from external sources—foreign (e.g., English East India Company reports) and Chinese records—tracking Armenians as ship captains, supercargoes, agents, and private merchants rather than sailors. The authors show that Armenians acted independently of, but sometimes in concert with, European and Asian powers, securing occasional privileges (e.g., 1688 EIC charter to Calcutta Armenians) that afforded an edge in trade once China reopened to foreign commerce in the late 1680s–1690s. Key case material includes the 1698 *L’Amphitrite*’s report of Armenian involvement in Macao and Canton; the 1700 presence of Ignacio Marcos in Macao aboard the *S. Juan*; Estêvão (Steven) commanding the *Sta. Maria e Sta. Ana* under a Portuguese sponsor from 1700 to 1713; and a 1722 Armenian ship anchored at Whampoa trading with Batavia. The ships were typically small (150–500 tons) with crews of 40–100; Armenians were rarely listed as sailors, instead appearing as officers or merchants. The conclusion emphasizes Armenians as a resilient, portable, and transregional trading class that shaped Macao’s periphery of the China trade, offering a corrective to Company-centered histories and highlighting the broader texture of Macao’s cultural minorities.

Armenians occupied a central place in Macao and Canton commerce by the late eighteenth century, financing capital markets, directing import–export ventures, and participating in the contraband networks that shaped regional trade. Four Armenian families are reconstructed to address a gap in Macao’s historiography and to illuminate the social, economic, and regulatory matrices underpinning the Canton trade system. The authors deploy archival methods—Macao Senate records, residency licenses, church and civil registers, and mercantile materials—to trace the biographies and networks of Armenian merchants and their kin, foregrounding the Joannes family as a longitudinal exemplar of foreign integration within a Portuguese colonial framework. A core organizing logic is the residency regime, which tied permanent or temporary settlement to Portuguese authority and to ties with Macao-based traders. Canton trade was a prerequisite for year‑round Macao residence; the trading season (roughly August to January) conditioned licenses and exemptions, with seasonal leave required unless exceptional permission was granted. Foreign women’s exclusion from Canton often left residency concentrated among men, while naturalization provided a recognized route to continuity of residence and enterprise. The Joannes case—Matheus Joannes’s naturalization in 1783, his Canton death in 1794, and his son João’s baptism—illustrates how Armenians navigated policy to sustain influence and wealth, including adaptation through kinship and partnership within Macao’s cosmopolitan economy. Collectively, these four families demonstrate how Armenian networks sustained Macao’s economy, mediated through colonial governance and cross-cultural exchange, and helped shape the course of Pearl River trade in the long eighteenth century.

This article examines the presence and socio-economic activities of Muslim communities and "Moorish" traders in the Pearl River Delta from 1700 to 1930. While the early history of Islam in China is well-documented, the authors address a significant historiographical gap regarding the Qing dynasty, during which traditional Portuguese and Chinese records offer limited information. By utilizing alternative European maritime archives—specifically French and English ship logs—the study reconstructs the vital role played by Indian Muslim merchants and "Lascars" (sailors) from ports such as Surat and the Malabar Coast in the regional trade networks of Canton and Macao. The authors analyze the terminological complexities of the era, distinguishing between religious identity and the contemporary label "Moors," used by Europeans to categorize non-Chinese, non-European maritime actors. The findings highlight that despite being a minority, these groups were integral to the delta’s maritime economy, often preferred over European crews for their cost-efficiency and regional expertise. By tracking the evolution of these contacts into the early 20th century, the article demonstrates how maritime trade facilitated the establishment of permanent Muslim settlements, contributing to the cosmopolitan cultural fabric of Macao and the broader Pearl River Delta. This research underscores the continuity of the Muslim presence as a persistent, though often overlooked, element of South China’s social history.