Bast merchants in Guangzhou during the Qing Dynasty

Author: Guo Deyan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-01
Features: Bath is a name that has long been forgotten, but the Bath people played a significant role in many historical events of modern China. These events, such as the opium trade and the Opium War, have always been hot topics of research in both Chinese and foreign academia. However, the Bath people, as participants in these events, have long been overlooked by Chinese scholars, and foreign scholars have also lacked systematic and specialized research. The author believes that the key reason for the "neglect" of the Bath people is the vague records in Chinese literature, which make interpretation difficult. Therefore, the primary issue this book aims to address is to comb, organize, and classify the terms related to "Bath" in various Chinese documents from the Qing Dynasty by combining Western original documents. On this basis, it outlines the Bath aristocratic families and prominent merchants involved in the China trade, forming a clearer understanding of the Bath people. The book focuses on the activities of Bath merchants in Guangzhou Port before and after the Opium War. This period was the "golden age" of the Bath people's China trade.