Cohong

The Cohong, sometimes spelled kehang or gonghang, was a guild of Chinese merchants or hongs who operated the import-export monopoly in Canton (now Guangzhou) during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). During the century prior to the First Opium War of 1839, trade relations between China and Europe were exclusively conducted via the Cohong, which was formalised by imperial edict in 1760 by the Qianlong Emperor. The Chinese merchants who made up the Cohong were referred to as hangshang (行商) and their foreign counterparts yanghang (洋行, literally "ocean traders").

Foundation and structure

According to John Phipps, author of the 19th century Practical Treatise on the China and Eastern Trade, the merchant Ponkequathe (潘启官) founded the guild in the 1790s, although Chinese historian Immanuel C.Y. Hsu cites an earlier date of 1720.

Nominally a guild of thirteen merchants operating from "factories" located on the banks of the Pearl River outside Canton, over time membership of the Cohong fluctuated between five and 26 merchants authorized by the Chinese Central Government to handle trade, particularly rights to trade tea and silk, with the West. They were the only group at the time authorized to do this, making them the main controllers of all foreign trade in the nation.