Howqua

Wu Bingjian (; 1769 – 4 September 1843^[1]), trading as "Houqua"^[2] and better known in the West as "Howqua" or "Howqua II",^[a][3] was a hong merchant in the Thirteen Factories, head of the E-wo hong and leader of the Canton Cohong. He was once the richest man in the world.^[4][5][6][7]

Biography

A Hokkien by his paternal ancestry with ancestry from Quanzhou, Wu was known by the Europeans as Howqua, as was his father, Wu Guorong, the founder of the family business or hong.^[8] The name "Howqua" is a romanization, in his native Hokkien, of the business name under which he traded, "浩官" (). He became rich on the trade between China and the British Raj in the middle of the 19th century during the First Opium War. Perhaps the wealthiest man in China during the nineteenth century, Howqua was the senior of the hong merchants in Canton, one of the few authorized to trade silk and porcelain with foreigners. In an 1822 fire which burned down many of the cohongs,^[9] the silver that melted allegedly formed a little stream almost two miles in length.^[6][7] Of the three million dollars that the Qing regime was required to pay the British as stipulated in the Treaty of Nanking, Howqua allegedly help raise one million.^[10] He died the same year in Canton.

After the Opium Wars, Howqua's familial and business lineage quickly diminished. In 1891, the American trading house that had been handling Howqua's international investments, Russell & Company, collapsed. The descendants of Howqua are now commoners.^[11] What had been a massive and beautiful estate for the Howqua family is now relatively unmarked in a poor neighborhood in the region of Honam.^[12]

The founders of then world-renowned firms including James Matheson, William Jardine, Samuel Russell and Abiel Abbot Low all had a close relationship with Howqua. Portraits of Howqua in his robes still hang in Salem and Newport mansions built by American merchants grateful for his assistance.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

Following the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, which spelled the end of the Thirteen Factories, Jardine Matheson & Co continued to use "Ewo" as their Chinese name.^[13]

A settlement on the east bank of Lake Eildon, 23 kilometres (14 mi) from Mansfield, in Victoria, Australia, is named after him, possibly by Chinese miners who passed through the area during the Victorian gold rush.

See also

• Houqua, 1844 clipper ship

Notes

1. ^ Two other merchants from this period were known as Howqua: The Hong merchant Lin Shimao and Wu Bingjun's father, Wo Guoying, also known as Howqua I. ^[3]

References

1. ^ Hunt, Freeman; Dana, William B. (1844). The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review. Volume 10. p. 459.
2. ^ Wong, JDO (2016). Global Trade in the Nineteenth Century: The House of Houqua and the Canton System. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107150669.
3. ^ Grant 2014, p. 128.
4. ^ The Rich and How They Got That Way: How the Wealthiest People of All Time—from Genghis Khan to Bill Gates—Made Their Fortunes. 2 October 2018. ASIN 0812932676.
5. ^ The Rich And How They Got That Way By Cynthia Crossen Publisher: Crown Publishing Group Pub. Date: 2000 ISBN 0-8129-3267-6
6. ^ "中國評論新聞網". Chinareviewnews.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
7. ^ "晚清的財富精英：1834年的世界首富-閱讀-新浪新聞中心". News.sina.com.tw. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
8. ^ Parkes, Douglas (2022-04-29). "Who was 19th-century merchant Howqua, the 'Chinese Bill Gates of his day'?". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2023-06-30.
9. ^ "3". 觸藩始末 (The Start and End of Upsetting The Foreigners). 1885.
10. ^ 档案揭秘:被称为“天下第一大富翁”的伍秉鉴-欢迎进入深圳档案网^{[dead link]}
11. ^ Parkes, Douglas (April 29, 2022). "Who was 19th-century merchant Howqua, the 'Chinese Bill Gates of his day'?". South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
12. ^ Absolute History (22 November 2023). "How The Opium Trade Destroyed China's Greatest Empire". YouTube. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
13. ^ Cheong, W.E. (1997). The Hong merchants of Canton: Chinese merchants in Sino-Western trade. Routledge. ISBN 0-7007-0361-6. p.122 Online version at Google books

Sources

• Grant, Frederic D. Jr. (2014). The Chinese Cornerstone of Modern Banking. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. ISBN 978-90-04-27656-7.
• Downs, Jacques M. (2014). The Golden Ghetto. Hong Kong University Press. ISBN 978-988-8139-09-5.

Further reading

• "Wu Ping-chien"

External links

• In Chinese – Howqua's Bio on NetEase
• In Chinese – Howqua's Bio on Hudong
• In English – The story of the merchant (site maintained by tea importer)