In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

C H A P T E R E I G H T  MACAO TRADE, JUNK TRADE, CAPITAL MARKET AND COMMISSION MERCHANTS IT HAS BEEN SHOWN IN past studies that Macao was in many ways an extension of the Canton market.1 Chinese and Portuguese documents that have survived from the eighteenth century show how the two ports were operating closely with each other on administrative levels.2 But owing to a lack of historical data, little has been said of market influences. With information that has recently emerged from European archives, we can now begin to show more clearly the relationship governing these cities. Because Macao was so closely connected with the junk trade, capital market and commission merchants, we will deal with all of these aspects in this chapter. In many respects, the entire delta from Macao to Canton operated as one huge market with many variables within it. On one level, the Macao trade, junk trade and foreign trade were independent of each other with different sets of regulations governing them. But when we look at the capital market, commission merchants and inputs and outputs of each, the distinctions between them disappear and they become one. All parts were intricately dependent on each other and would cease to operate effectively without the inputs from the others. THE MACAO TRADE Macao had a significant impact on the environment in Canton, because much of the trade there was a direct extension of the market upriver.3 When the Portuguese ships arrived in Macao, Chinese merchants from Canton came downriver to buy their goods. In the last chapter, we saw how Chetqua came to Macao to purchase Portuguese cargos and other Hong merchants were doing the same. 144 The Canton Trade Merchants often assigned one of their sons or partners to take care of the Macao side of things, while other partners in the hongs were assigned to the junk trade or to the Chinese interior to order goods and make purchases. Other partners in the houses would then take care of the foreign trade. These were the four parts to all of the major hongs: Macao trade, junk trade, interior trade and foreign trade. Macao maintained a separate set of standards that gave it an advantage in some products. Reduced duties, favourable exchange rates and the use of different units of measurement compensated for the cost of transporting the merchandise to and from Canton. In fact, if the city had not had these advantages, the trade would simply be diverted upriver. It was not until smuggling depots began to appear in the delta that other places could compete with the advantages in Macao. The Dutch were constantly monitoring the price of coarse and fine goods going into Macao. The units of measurement for those products varied from 150 to 100 catties per picul, respectively, whereas the same products might all be measured at 100 catties per picul in Canton. The exchange rate for silver in Macao was also different from Canton, which gave money an advantage there. The different standards in Macao kept downward pressure on prices. In the mid-1760s, the Dutch found prices ‘from all wares’ to be 52 percent lower in Macao (but the different units need to be considered).4 Since the late-1680s, Macao had its own customhouse and Hoppo who supervised and taxed the trade.5 In the 1760s, the duties charged to Portuguese ships were 6 percent less than those paid by ships that went to Whampoa. The preferential treatment gave them an advantage over their European competitors. The Canton junks and Spanish vessels from Manila also enjoyed the same preferential rate, so the Portuguese were not without competition.6 As a result of these benefits, the Dutch found it to be more advantageous to channel some of their tin and pepper through Macao. They hired Portuguese ships to carry the product from Batavia rather than send them on company ships. Pepper cost only 0.04 taels per picul to be secretly shipped upriver so there was much smuggling of that product through Macao.7 The Hoppos eventually became aware of some of the effects that Macao was having on Canton and tried to equalise the two markets. In the early 1780s, changes were legislated that aimed to put Macao ships on the same footing with those at Whampoa. By this time, there were also Armenian ships operating out of Macao and some Portuguese ships were freighted by Chinese so the trade was...

Share