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4. The Legacy of the Comprador System: Coal Distribution and Wharf Operations
- Hong Kong University Press, HKU
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Chapter 4 When Liu Hongsheng became the comprador of the Shanghai Agent of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company (later the Kailan Mining Administration) in 1911 , he became part of the larger comprador system operating under the Western inf1uence in China. Like other compradors, Liu also ran his own businesses, including coal distribution and wharf operations. As these two businesses were closely related to his role as a comprador, this chapter begins with the problems ofbusiness expansion within the institutiona1 setting of the comprador system in which they operated. The comprador system in the nineteenth century has been extensively studied.1 Yen-p'ing Hao, Motono Eiid吐, Jerry L. S. Wang, among others, have demonstrated not only the importance of compradors in promoting Western enterpris白, trade in China, but that they might a1so be a defective institution to their principal. The compradors' discretion in deciding the fìnancial status of the clients was often reported to be abused by them. They might even be running into conf1ict with their principal's int叮叮t by conducting their own businesses of a similar kind. Nevertheless, the problems posed by the continuation of the comprador system into the early twentieth century have received insuffìcient attention in the current literature. The successful comprador was inclined towards expansion but his comprador status gave him connections to one or more Western businesses which he might not wish to abandon. To expand while keeping the position as comprador implied a conf1ict of interest, all the more obvious when Western companies became aware ofit in the twentieth century and began to develop the contractual instruments to prevent it. Whether the comprador could continue his business, expand, and remain as comprador therefore depended on the ongoing negotiations between him and the company which he served. Liu 49 多o Business E有pansion and Structural Change in Pre-Wtzr China Hongsheng's case, like many others, involved some degree of deception, which made an impact on the structure of the business. Institutional setting of the comprador system Long before Liu Hongsheng's time, the comprador system had a1ready become an institution solidly rooted in the history of Chinàs foreign trade. The word ‘comprador' originally referred to men who purchased provisions for foreign merchants during the eighteenth century, but compradors gradua11yestablished themselves as traders in their own right after the opening of China in 1842. At h哎, a comprador acted as a house steward for the foreign principal who hired him.2 When the Western agency houses expanded after the 186郎, which was probably due to the improvement oftransportation and communications between the Far East and Western countries,3 the comprador's role began to shift to a business assistant who helped his principal by providing market intelligence, acting as a treasurer and an interpreter, and handling the actual business transactions. Western fìrms relied upon their Chinese compradors' expertise because of the language problem and their ignorance ofsuch important market information as currency. In the export sector, compradors a1so acted as upcountry purchasers for foreign fìrms. On some occasions, a comprador acted as a broker to bring together Western fìrms and Chinese clients. The system gradua11y spread to other lines ofWestern businesses in China, such as shipping and banking.4 The most outstanding feature of the comprador system in China was that compradors had to guarantee the business transactions oftheir foreign principa1s. In Qing China, there was no novelty about such a 'guarantee system'. Business transactions in the loca1 market 0丘en required brokers to act as guarantors.5 In Japan, by contrast, there is no evidence that local employees ofWestern fìrms guaranteed their employers' business transactions like their Chinese counterparts. Western fìrms conducted their business with Japanese merchants in cash for importing, or recruited an independent merchant as purchaser and advanced him with a considerable sum of money, for country purchasing.6 Obviously, foreign fìrms in China adopted the guarantee system for reducing and sharing risk in the market where they enjoyed no advantage over the natives because of their ignorance in the language and loca1 customs. It is not totally clear whether the comprador would provide his guarantee in cash or in va1uable property but in some cases, he was held responsible by his principal for losses due to the insolvency ofChinese [3.141.0.61] Project MUSE (2024-04-17 21:06 GMT) The Legacy 01the Comprador 鈔'stem 51 risk could be even greater if his principal or their clients went...