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Inter-area/Border Crossing
Organized Panel Session
From 1757 to 1842, the Qing government sought to limit the impact of foreigners by restricting Western trade to the port of Guangzhou and instituting strict regulations. The Canton system’s rigidity prompted foreign merchants to smuggle their cargoes to avoid customs fees. Some also sold the illicit, profitable drug: opium. The British smuggled more opium than any other nationality, and Qing officials—charged with eradicating opium—expelled the British shortly before the First Opium War. American merchants who remained sold and smuggled goods on behalf of the British. Why did Americans pursue this risky business? If discovered, they too could face expulsion. Furthermore, the Anglo-American relationship was contentious. Only half a century before the British had been the colonial masters of the American colonies. They were also competitors in business. This study analyzes the papers of unusually self-aware American merchants who worked in Guangzhou to discover both explicit and implicit rationales for American smuggling for the British. The opportunity to profit mostly explains the decision. This form of smuggling also exemplified a solidarity based on a shared interest in profit and the expansion of trade in China. It also highlights a racist and hypocritical dismissal of Chinese opium users. Scholarly work on nineteenth-century China-foreign relations rightly focuses on the impact of British smuggling, but the short-lived American business in selling British goods contributes to a further understanding of the complex dynamics between British, American, and Chinese merchants and officials on the southeast coast of China on the eve of war.
Laurie Dickmeyer
Angelo State University