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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.

*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.