Hongs
A ''hong'' () originally designates both a type of building and a type of Chinese merchant intermediary in Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), Guangdong, China, in the 18–19th century, specifically during the Canton System period. Guangzhou The name ''hong'' () originally referred to the row of factories built outside of the city walls of Guangzhou 广州 (Canton), near the Pearl River. The Thirteen Factories were used during the Canton System period to host foreign traders and the products purchased, under the aegis of the ''cohong''. The Hong (or Factories) were usually owned by hong merchants such as Pan Zhencheng (Poankeequa 1). The Guangzhou Hong changed location several times after fires, and became less important after the First Opium War (18391842), as Guangzhou lost its monopoly of foreign trade and Hong Kong was ceded to the British as a colony. Hong Kong In Hong Kong, the name ''hong'' designated major business houses. One of the earliest foreign hongs estab ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dodwell & Co
Dodwell & Co. () or Dodwell's, was one of the leading British merchant firms, or hongs, active in China and Japan during the 19th and 20th century. It was a direct rival to Jardine, Matheson & Co. History W.R. Adamson and Company – The forerunner of Dodwell & Co. The forerunner of Dodwell & Co., ''W.R. Adamson and Company'', was founded as a result of the efforts of a group of Cheshire weavers who needed to increase supplies of raw silk for their mills. On their behalf, William R. Adamson arrived in Shanghai in 1852. In 1858 he set up his own firm, W.R. Adamson and Company, in London, with its head office in Shanghai and branches in Hong Kong, Foochow and Hankow. It was the first of the British merchant firms to venture into Japan, opening a branch in Yokohama in the early 1860s. W.R. Adamson and Company built up an export business in tea and silk, and also a general import business, and began to acquire shipping agencies. The name changed in 1867 to ''Adamson, Bell and Compa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Canton System
The Canton System (1757–1842; zh, t=一口通商, p=Yīkǒu tōngshāng, "Single orttrading relations") served as a means for Qing China to control trade with the West within its own country by focusing all trade on the southern port of Canton (now Guangzhou). The protectionist policy arose in 1757 as a response to a perceived political and commercial threat from abroad on the part of successive Chinese emperors. From the late seventeenth century onwards, Chinese merchants, known as '' Hongs'' (), managed all trade in the port. Operating from the Thirteen Factories located on the banks of the Pearl River outside Canton, in 1760, by order of the Qing Qianlong Emperor, they became officially sanctioned as a monopoly known as the ''Cohong''. Thereafter Chinese merchants dealing with foreign trade ( zh, t=洋行, p=yángháng, links=no, "ocean traders", i.e. "overseas traders" or "foreign traders") acted through the ''Cohong'' under the supervision of the Guangdong Customs Su ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dent & Co
Dent & Co. or Dent's, was one of the wealthiest British merchant firms, or ''Hongs'', active in China during the 19th century. A direct rival to Jardine, Matheson & Co, together with Russell & Co., these three companies are recognised as the original Canton ''Hongs'' active in early Colonial Hong Kong. History Foundation Former East India Company supercargo George Baring (17811854), son of Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet of the eponymous banking family founded the firm later to become Dent & Co in 1809. After the firm ordered its supercargos to stop trading in opium, William Davidson joined the firm, becoming sole partner between 18131820. In that year Thomas Dent came on board and he in turn brought in Robert Hugh Inglis, who had connections with the East India Company, of which his father and uncle were both directors. A relation of Thomas, Lancelot Dent joined his brother in the firm in 1827. Thomas Dent arrived in Canton in 1823 to join Davidson & Co as a partner. W ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Old China Trade
The Old China Trade () refers to the early commerce between the Qing Empire and the United States under the Canton System, spanning from shortly after the end of the American Revolutionary War in 1783 to the Treaty of Wanghia in 1844. The Old China Trade represented the beginning of relations between the United States and East Asia, including eventually U.S.–China relations. The maritime fur trade was a major aspect of the Old China Trade, as was illegal trafficking in opium. The trade era overlapped the First Opium War, which resulted from an attempt by China to enforce its prohibition on opium smuggling by Western traders and blockade-runners between 1839–1842. Origins Anglo-American hostilities ceased in 1783 following the Second Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolutionary War and subsequently freed American trade from British control. At the time, increased global demand for tea was one of the primary reasons for a shortage of silver; this was the only curren ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Economy Of Hong Kong
The economy of Hong Kong is a highly developed free-market economy. It is characterised by low taxation, almost free port trade and a well-established international financial market. Its currency, called the Hong Kong dollar, is legally issued by three major international commercial banks, and is pegged to the US dollar. Interest rates are determined by the individual banks in Hong Kong to ensure that they are market driven. There is no officially recognised central banking system, although the Hong Kong Monetary Authority functions as a financial regulatory authority. Its economy is governed under positive non-interventionism, and is highly dependent on international trade and finance. For this reason it is regarded as among the most favorable places to start a company. In fact, a recent study shows that Hong Kong has come from 998 registered start-ups in 2014 to over 2800 in 2018, with eCommerce (22%), Fintech (12%), Software (12%) and Advertising (11%) companies comprising ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jardine Matheson
Jardine Matheson Holdings Limited (also known as Jardines) is a Hong Kong-based Bermuda-domiciled British multinational conglomerate. It has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and secondary listings on the Singapore Exchange and Bermuda Stock Exchange. The majority of its business interests are in Asia, and its subsidiaries include Jardine Pacific, Jardine Motors, Hongkong Land, Jardine Strategic Holdings, DFI Retail Group, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Jardine Cycle & Carriage and Astra International. It set up the Jardine Scholarship in 1982 and Mindset, a mental health-focused charity, in 2002. Jardines was one of the original Hong Kong trading houses or Hongs that date back to Imperial China. 58 per cent of the company's profits were earned in China in 2019. The company is controlled by the Keswick family, who are descendants of co-founder William Jardine's older sister, Jean Johnstone. Jardine Matheson is a ''Fortune'' Global 500 company. In 2013, bo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Guangzhou
Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kong and north of Macau, Guangzhou has a history of over 2,200 years and was a major terminus of the maritime Silk Road; it continues to serve as a major port and transportation hub as well as being one of China's three largest cities. For a long time, the only Chinese port accessible to most foreign traders, Guangzhou was captured by the British during the First Opium War. No longer enjoying a monopoly after the war, it lost trade to other ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai, but continued to serve as a major transshipment port. Due to a high urban population and large volumes of port traffic, Guangzhou is classified as a Large-Port Megacity, the largest type of port-city in the world. Due to worldwide travel restrictions at the beginni ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wheelock & Co
} Wheelock and Company Limited is a Hong Kong-based financial real estate company. It was listed as #1249 on the Forbes 2000 list. The group's principal activities are property investment, property development, property management and agency, and investment holding. The group is also involved in distribution and retail businesses including Lane Crawford, Joyce and City'super. Operations are carried out in Hong Kong, the British Virgin Islands, mainland China and Singapore. History Wheelock and Company was created from the purchase of Wheelock and Marden Company Limited, a British Hong founded as Shanghai Tug and Lighter Limited in 1857 in Shanghai by Captain Thomas Reed Wheelock (born St. Stephen, New Brunswick 1843 – died 1920, Shanghai, China). G.E. Marden founded Marden and Company in 1925 and merged with Thomas Wheelock's tug company to form Wheelock and Marden Company Limited in 1932. The new company operated other ships and later moved their operations to Hong Kong follo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Inchcape Plc
Inchcape plc is a British multinational automotive distribution, retail and services company headquartered in London. An outgrowth of Calcutta-based Mackinnon Mackenzie Company, Inchcape has operations in 32 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa and South America. Inchcape is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1847–1950 In 1847, William Mackinnon and Robert Mackenzie formed the Mackinnon Mackenzie Company (MMC), a general merchanting partnership based in Calcutta. In 1856 Mackinnon formed the ''Calcutta and Burma Steam Navigation Company'' to carry post to the region: the Company appointed MMC as their agents, secured contracts to transport British troops from Ceylon to India during the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and in 1862 floated on the London Stock Exchange under the name ''British India Steam Navigation Company''. In 1874, James Lyle MacKay joined Mackinnon and Mackenzie in Calcutta and by 1914 was the so ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Swire Group
Swire Group () is a Hong Kong- and London-based British conglomerate. Many of its core businesses can be found within the Asia Pacific region, where traditionally Swire's operations have centred on Hong Kong and mainland China. Within Asia, Swire's activities come under the group's publicly quoted arm, Swire Pacific Limited. Elsewhere in the world, many businesses are held directly by the parent company, John Swire & Sons Limited, in Australia, Papua New Guinea, East Africa, Sri Lanka, the US and UK. Swire controls a large property empire in Asia – mainly Hong Kong. The current chairman is Barnaby Swire. Taikoo () meaning Archean, is the Chinese name of Swire. It serves as the brand name for businesses such as Taikoo Sugar and Taikoo Shing. History The Swire Group's privately owned parent company is London-based John Swire & Sons Limited. The Swire Group, started by John Swire (1787–1847) in 1816, had its beginnings as a modest Liverpool import-export company based ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jebsen Group
Jebsen Group () is a marketing, investment, and distribution organisation founded in 1895. It is headquartered in Hong Kong with offices in Mainland China and Macau. It consists of six business lines: Beverage, Consumer, Industrial, Motors, Logistics, and Jebsen Capital. It offers market access for over 200 leading companies to build their brands and market share in Greater China. Hans Michael Jebsen is the chairman of the group, with Alfons Mensdorff-Pouilly serving as the CEO. History Jebsen & Co. was established in Hong Kong in March 1895 by second grade cousins Jacob Jebsen and Heinrich Jessen from Aabenraa. The company started as a shipping agency owned by Jebsen's father who had a fleet of fourteen coastal steamers at the Chinese coasts. With expanding business range, in January 1909 Jebsen & Jessen Hamburg was founded to coordinate the European business. In December 1963, Jebsen & Jessen Group was founded by Arwed Peter Jessen to concentrate on business in South East ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Wharf (Holdings)
The Wharf (Holdings) Limited (), or Wharf (九倉) in short, is a company founded in 1886 in Hong Kong. As its name suggests, the company's original business was in running wharfage and dockside warehousing, and it was originally known as The Hong Kong and Kowloon Wharf and Godown Company, Limited and founded by Sir Paul Chater. The company adopted its current name in 1986. The current major holder of the company is Wheelock & Co. History Even today, the company is still the owner of the Star Ferry, although this icon of Hong Kong now forms a relatively small part of the company's portfolio. The Five Flag Poles, a set of flag poles flying flags of the company, are a short walk from the Star Ferry's Tsim Sha Tsui pier and form a local landmark and meeting point. In a more modern vein, the company owns two major flagship properties in the Harbour City and Times Square shopping centres in Hong Kong. Both owe their origins to the company's transportation heritage, as they a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |