Yang Pinqua 楊丙觀: Merchant of Canton and Macao 1747—1795

Pinqua’s example is one of the few we have of an outside merchant working for many years as a successful porcelain dealer and then becoming a Hong merchant. At the time of his appointment in 1782, Pinqua had thirty-five years of experience dealing with foreigners and had earned a good reputation as...

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Published in:Review of Culture
Main Author: Paul a. Van Dyke
Format: Articles
Published: Instituto Cultural de Macau 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40062/3943
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author Paul a. Van Dyke
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Paul a. Van Dyke
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container_title Review of Culture
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description Pinqua’s example is one of the few we have of an outside merchant working for many years as a successful porcelain dealer and then becoming a Hong merchant. At the time of his appointment in 1782, Pinqua had thirty-five years of experience dealing with foreigners and had earned a good reputation as a dependable and trustworthy merchant. However, despite that past experience, it proved to be insufficient to overcome the challenges he faced as a Hong merchant. Not only did that new position require him to trade in a much wider variety of goods, but Pinqua also had to assume the debts of failed men, which meant he needed to trade in much larger volumes in order to generate enough income to service those payments. As a Hong merchant, he was called upon by Chinese officials — including the emperor — to supplement administrative budgets when they failed to meet the needs at hand. Even though Pinqua was said to be ‘rich’ when he began his appointment, within five years he was having serious cash flow problems. Pinqua’s demise is testimony to the negative influences that surrounded the Hong merchants and led to most of their businesses ending in failure.
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spelling Yang Pinqua 楊丙觀: Merchant of Canton and Macao 1747—1795
Pinqua’s example is one of the few we have of an outside merchant working for many years as a successful porcelain dealer and then becoming a Hong merchant. At the time of his appointment in 1782, Pinqua had thirty-five years of experience dealing with foreigners and had earned a good reputation as a dependable and trustworthy merchant. However, despite that past experience, it proved to be insufficient to overcome the challenges he faced as a Hong merchant. Not only did that new position require him to trade in a much wider variety of goods, but Pinqua also had to assume the debts of failed men, which meant he needed to trade in much larger volumes in order to generate enough income to service those payments. As a Hong merchant, he was called upon by Chinese officials — including the emperor — to supplement administrative budgets when they failed to meet the needs at hand. Even though Pinqua was said to be ‘rich’ when he began his appointment, within five years he was having serious cash flow problems. Pinqua’s demise is testimony to the negative influences that surrounded the Hong merchants and led to most of their businesses ending in failure.
Instituto Cultural de Macau
Macau
Review of Culture
Articles
2020
Canton trade
Hong merchant
Hoppo
Macao trade
Porcelain
Silk
Tea
Tin.
Paul a. Van Dyke
spellingShingle Yang Pinqua 楊丙觀: Merchant of Canton and Macao 1747—1795
Paul a. Van Dyke
Canton trade
Hong merchant
Hoppo
Macao trade
Porcelain
Silk
Tea
Tin.
title Yang Pinqua 楊丙觀: Merchant of Canton and Macao 1747—1795
title_autocomplete Yang Pinqua 楊丙觀: Merchant of Canton and Macao 1747—1795
title_full Yang Pinqua 楊丙觀: Merchant of Canton and Macao 1747—1795
title_fullStr Yang Pinqua 楊丙觀: Merchant of Canton and Macao 1747—1795
title_full_unstemmed Yang Pinqua 楊丙觀: Merchant of Canton and Macao 1747—1795
title_short Yang Pinqua 楊丙觀: Merchant of Canton and Macao 1747—1795
title_sort yang pinqua 楊丙觀: merchant of canton and macao 1747—1795
topic Canton trade
Hong merchant
Hoppo
Macao trade
Porcelain
Silk
Tea
Tin.
topic_autocomplete Canton trade
Hong merchant
Hoppo
Macao trade
Porcelain
Silk
Tea
Tin.
topic_facet Canton trade
Hong merchant
Hoppo
Macao trade
Porcelain
Silk
Tea
Tin.
url https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40062/3943
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