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A great upsurge in large-scale piracy between 1780 and 1810 had a tremendous impact on the Canton trade. Provincial officials, Hong merchants, and foreign traders repeatedly acknowledged that pirates, operating from bases scattered throughout the Pearl River Delta, greatly hindered commerce and communications. Several times pirates threatened Canton, each time triggering a great panic in the city. To help defray the high costs of defending the city and surrounding delta, officials called on the Hong merchants to “contribute” money. In fact, whenever the government’s coffers were insufficient, the government levied Hong merchants. Periodic exactions were a fact of life for Canton’s Hong merchants, who were assessed monetary quotas for famine and flood relief, construction and repairs of forts and bridges, and for extraordinary military campaigns, such as those against the Guangdong pirates. By the 1780s, contributions to the government were usually paid out in installments from the Hong merchants’ common chest, known as the Consoo Fund. This article, which is divided into three sections, examines first, the development of large-scale piracy in the Pearl River Delta in the context of increasingly strained Sino-Western relations; second, the development of a customary contribution system that Qing officials imposed on the Hong merchants and its repercussions on them and the Canton trade; and third, the important role of Hong merchants in the defence of Canton between 1804 and 1810, at the height of the pirate crisis.
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Most people possess some knowledge of the overland Silk Road, yet comparatively fewer are familiar with the maritime Silk Road, despite both routes holding equal historical significance. Discussions regarding both the overland and maritime Silk Roads have predominantly emphasized their roles in facilitating international trade and cultural exchanges. However, there exists a third Silk Road—one that is seldom, if ever, mentioned—yet remains equally important to history, archaeology, and cultural heritage. This third Silk Road is the pirates’ Silk Road. Wherever thriving trade flourished, pirates were certain to prey upon it, simultaneously forging their own networks of exchange through black markets and friendly ports. Wherever cultural exchange occurred, pirates actively participated in cultural dissemination. In this article, I develop these themes through specific historical examples, with a particular focus on East and Southeast Asia. First, I discuss the routes associated with the maritime Silk Road and their connections to piracy. Next, I examine several pirate lairs situated along these routes—places where pirates purportedly buried their treasures. Subsequently, I delve into the exciting field of maritime archaeology to assess what has been uncovered regarding alleged sunken pirate ships along the maritime Silk Road. Finally, I explore some of the contributions pirates have made to the dissemination of folk religion and popular culture, as well as the potential contributions the pirates’ Silk Road can offer to contemporary historical and cultural heritage projects.
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Over the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Canton was facing increasing tensions and difficulties not only with foreign officials and traders, but also with foreign sailors visiting the port. These years witnessed a marked increase in the number of Western ships trading at Canton. The increase in the number of foreign ships brought an attendant increase in the number of foreign sailors — in the thousands by the early nineteenth century — who on 'liberty days' in groups of anywhere from 12 to 50 men headed to Hog Lane alongside the Western factories for a day of whoring and drinking.
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- Journal Article (3)