Book Description

Excerpt from A Chinese Commercial Guide: Consisting of a Collection of Details and Regulations Respecting Foreign Trade With China, Sailing Directions, Tables The first edition of the Chinese Commercial Guide was published in 1835 by the author, John R.Morrison, who was then employed by the British mercantile community in Canton as their Chinese translator, and possessed peculiar facilities for learning all that could be ascertained respecting the foreign trade as then conducted by the hong-merchants. It is still valuable for its data respecting the Chinese trade as carried on twenty years ago, and furnishes much curious information upon the subject, and respecting the tortuous policy of the Chinese government in conducting the trade for its own advantage through the co-hong. On the conclusion of the war between England and China in 1842, and the publication of the new arrangements for trade according to the British, American, and French Treaties, the Commercial Guide was revised, to furnish all the information which could be obtained likely to be useful to the merchant, using whatever was found in the first edition that was applicable to the foreign commerce with China, or interesting to those engaged in it. The sailing directions for the coast of China, made chiefly by Capt. Collinson, r.n., were inserted in the same volume, and have proved very convenient to shipmasters. In this revised edition, which was issued in 1844, the name of the author of the previous work was retained, for the reasons given in the preface. In 1848, a third edition was printed almost without alteration. Eight years have now elapsed since the third edition was published, during which time the changes have been many and important. Shanghai, Fuhchau, and Hongkong have become centres of a large and growing trade, while the business of Canton and Macao has diminished, both relatively and absolutely. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.