Canton System

The Qing trade framework that confined most Western maritime commerce to Guangzhou and regulated foreign merchants through licensed Chinese intermediaries.

Cohong: A guild of licensed Chinese merchants authorized to conduct trade with Western merchants at Guangzhou. Cohong merchants mediated foreign trade and bore responsibility for merchants’ obligations to Qing authorities.
Qing dynasty: The last imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912. Qing rulers established the framework and maintained it through imperial administration.
Canton System merchants: Chinese commercial intermediaries who organized trade between foreign merchants and domestic markets under Qing regulation. Their brokerage connected foreign companies to Chinese suppliers and buyers.
Opium trade in China: The commerce in opium imported into China, especially from British India, that expanded in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Opium smuggling challenged Qing controls and intensified conflict around the Guangzhou trade.
Nagasaki trade: The Tokugawa shogunate’s tightly controlled foreign trade conducted principally through Nagasaki. It restricted foreign access in Japan, but used different authorities and trading arrangements.
Thirteen Factories: The riverside district in Guangzhou where foreign trading companies maintained warehouses and residences. It was the designated place for foreign merchants to conduct business during the trading season.
Kangxi Emperor: The Qing emperor who ruled from 1661 to 1722 and expanded the dynasty’s power. His lifting of the maritime prohibition helped restore regulated overseas trade.
British East India Company: An English joint-stock company that traded in Asia and later governed parts of India. It was the dominant British commercial presence at Guangzhou during much of the system’s operation.
First Opium War: The 1839–1842 conflict between Qing China and Britain over trade, diplomacy, and opium enforcement. The war forced the Qing government to abandon exclusive trade at Guangzhou.
Treaty of Wanghia: An 1844 treaty granting the United States commercial and diplomatic privileges in China. It represents the treaty-based access that followed the Canton System’s port restrictions.

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