This advertisement for a porcelain shop was printed in a travel guide A Pictorial Handbook to Canton (1905). The “Factory” was an interesting place back in 19th century Canton. Factory may have come from the Portuguese word feitoria meaning ‘trading post’ historically.Expansion of the Portuguese in the 15th and 16th centuries led to establishment of feitorias along the West and East African coasts and the Indian subcontinent. The English spelt the word as Factory.So feitoria/factory travelled all the way from Europe to Africa and then to the Far East via India. As more and more foreign traders arrived in Canton, the Qing government decided these “foreign devils” should conduct their businesses and live in a designated area so as to restrict their movement within Canton (now Guangzhou). This area was later known as the ‘Thirteen Factories” (十三行 sap6 saam1 hong2 in Cantonese) located at the south of the city.
The Chinese word 行 (Hong) was generally used as the equivalent of Factory. William C. Hunter, an old China hand, however, remarked on the two words in his book The ‘Fan Kwae’ at Canton Before Treaty Days 1825-1844.
“The words Factory and Hong were interchangeable, although not identical. The former, as will have been seen, consisted of dwellings and offices combined. The latter not only contained numerous offices for employés, cooks, messengers, weighmasters, &c, but were of vast extent, and capable of receiving an entire ship’s cargo, as well as quantities of teas and silk. When speaking of their own residences, foreigners generally used the word ‘Factories;’ when of a Hong merchant’s place of business, the word Hong.” (p. 25).
As the map in Hunter’s book showed, the frontage of the Factories faced the Pearl River. The Factories situated from west to east were ordered as follows: Danish Factory (黃旗行), Spanish Factory (大呂宋行), French Factory (高公行), Chunqua’s Factory (中和行), American Factory (廣源行), Paou Shun Factory (寶順行), Imperial Factory (孖鷹行), Swedish Factory (瑞行), E.I.C. Old Factory (隆順行) [E.I.C.: English East India Company], Chow-chow Factory (豐泰行), E.I.C. New Factory (保和行), Dutch Factory (集義行), and Creek Factory (怡和行). The names of most Factories reflected the nationalities of the occupants. 呂宋 (Luzon) refers to Manila in the Philippines. Historically, Manila was called 小呂宋 ‘small Luzon’ and its colonizer Spain 大呂宋 ‘big Luzon’. Chowchow was a pidgin English word; it could mean ‘food’, ‘eat’ and ‘mixed’. The Chowchow Factory was so named because the residents were of different origins; hence the meaning of ‘mixed’ was intended in this case. The three streets which ran parallel to the Factories were New Chinese Street, Old China Street, and Hog Lane. In the rear of the Factories, running from west to east, was a long street called Thirteen Factory Street. Shops selling various kinds of products like curios, herbs, tobaccos, porcelain, silks, shoes, cloths, etc. could be found in these streets. Before the end of the First Opium War (1839-1842), foreigners were confined to the Factory quarter, walking through these narrow streets might provide some entertainment for them.
The Factory quarter stood out from the rest of the city of Canton because it was a spatial fusion of peoples and cultures. The high visibility of cross-cultural blending may explain why the “Thirteen Factories” was a recurring motif in export objects such as paintings, porcelain, and fans. Inside the Factory, it was also a multicultural workplace. While the foreign trader or taipan was the head of the Factory, trading wouldn’t be possible without the assistance of Chinese employees. The compradore who was secured by a Hong merchant was the key person. He oversaw every matter inside the Factory and supervised other Chinese personnel such as the shroffs, the clerks, etc. in the office. Since the Factory was also dwellings for the foreigners, the services of the boys, cooks, coolies, amahs, etc. were crucial too.
Before the First Opium War, the Qing government prohibited direct trading between European traders and Chinese officials. As a result, a group of Hong merchants who obtained licences to trade with the west monopolized import-export transactions. Among these special group of Chinese merchants, the prominent and richest was Wu Bingjian (Chinese: 伍秉鑑; 1769–1843, better known to the west as Houqua (also Howqua). The name of his Hong was called 怡和 Ewo. Howqua had close relationships with many foreign traders including William Jardine and James Matheson – the taipans of Jardine, Matheson and Company. They took the name 怡和 Ewo as the Chinese name for their company.
Anglo-Chinese transactions was likely conducted in pidgin English. William C. Hunter provided a constructed conversation between Houqua and a European. Because of the flooding of the Yellow River, the Mandarin demand a large amount of money from Houqua for repair.
‘Well, Houqua,’ you would say on some visit, ‘hav got news to-day?’ ‘Hav got too muchee bad news,’ he would reply; ‘Hwang Ho hav spilum too muchee’ That sounded ominously. ‘Man-ta-le hav come see you?’ ‘He no come see my, he sendee come one piece “chop.” He come to-mollo. He wantchee my two-lac dollar.’ It was the old complaint, a ‘squeeze’ and this time a formidable one. ‘You pay he how mutchee?’ ‘My pay he fitty, sikky tousand so.’ ‘But s’pose he no contentee?’ ‘S’pose he, No. 1, no contentee, my pay he one lac.’ (p. 22)
Some explanations may help you understand the conversation. Adding the vowel “ee” at the end of some words is a well-known feature in the pidgin. Other forms of vowels were also used, for example “um” in spilum (i.e. spilt) and “o” in to-mollo (i.e. tomorrow). Man-ta-le was ‘Mandarin’. Lac was derived from the unit lakh (100,000) in Indian numbering system. S’pose (i.e. suppose)was used as a conjunction meaning ‘if’. Two buzzwords at that time were chop and squeeze. Chop came from India and was adopted in Malay and pidgin English spoken in Chinese ports. It could mean ‘seal, stamp, licence’. In the above context, it probably referred to an order from the Mandarin. Squeeze referred to excessive demand for money or bribery in the China trade context.
Hunter, William C. 1882. The ‘Fan Kwae’ at Canton Before Treaty Days 1825-1844. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co.