China: 'The Hong merchant Tenqua', portrait by Lam Qua c. 1840

'...the Chinese authorities were so jealous and so afraid of the foreigners, that they allowed none but the best Chinese merchants to deal with them. The famous Co-Hong of Canton, which consisted of Hou-qua, Mou-qua and others, was an association of the highest commercial rank, and possessed a monopoly of the foreign trade, granted by the Government because it was to be trusted'. Charles M. Dyce, The Model Settlement (London, 1906).

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