Cohong

Cohong
Traditional Chinese公行
Simplified Chinese公行
Literal meaning"public trade"
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyingōng háng
IPA[kʊ́ŋ xǎŋ]
Yue: Cantonese
Yale Romanizationgùng hòhng
Jyutpinggung1 hong4
IPA[kʊ̂ŋ hɔ̏ːŋ]

The Cohong, sometimes spelled kehang or gonghang, a guild of Chinese merchants or hongs, operated the import–export monopoly in Canton (present-day Guangzhou) during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). During the century prior to the First Opium War of 1839–1842, trade relations between China and Europe took place exclusively via the Cohong – a system formalised by an imperial edict of the Qianlong Emperor in 1738. The Chinese merchants who made up the Cohong were referred to as hangshang (行商) and their foreign counterparts as yanghang (洋行,literally "foreign traders").[1]

  1. ^ "Entry on Cohong in the Encyclopædia Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved January 31, 2014. 1738 1738 1738 1738 1738