The Cohong, sometimes spelled kehang or gonghang, was a guild of Chinese merchants or hongs who operated the import-export monopoly in Canton (now Guangzhou) during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). During the century prior to the First Opium War of 1839, trade relations between China and Europe were exclusively conducted via the Cohong, which was formalised by imperial edict in 1760 by the Qianlong Emperor. The Chinese merchants who made up the Cohong were referred to as hangshang (行商) and their foreign counterparts yanghang (洋行, literally "ocean traders").[1]
According to John Phipps, author of the 19th century Practical Treatise on the China and Eastern Trade, the merchant Ponkequathe (潘启官) founded the guild in the 1790s, although Chinese historian Immanuel C.Y. Hsu cites an earlier date of 1720.[2]
Number of Chinese Merchants Operating in Canton[3][4]
Year
Number
Year
Number
Year
Number
Year
Number
1757
26
1791
5~6
1811
10~12
1831
10
1759
>20
1792
12
1813
10~13
1832
10
1760
9
1794
10
1815
10
1833
10
1765
10
1795
10
1822
11
1834
10
1776
8
1796
10
1823
11
1835
10
1777
8
1798
8
1824
10
1836
11
1778
8
1799
8
1825
10
1837
13
1779
8
1800
8
1826
10
1838
11
1781
4
1801
8
1827
9
1839
10
1782
9
1807
12
1828
7
1786
20
1808
9
1829
7
1790
5
1810
10
1830
10
Nominally a guild of thirteen merchants operating from "factories" located on the banks of the Pearl River outside Canton, over time membership of the Cohong fluctuated between five and 26 merchants[5] authorized by the Chinese Central Government to handle trade, particularly rights to trade tea and silk, with the West.[1] They were the only group at the time authorized to do this, making them the main controllers of all foreign trade in the nation.
The Cohong further functioned as controller of the Consoo Fund (公所, gōngsuǒ), actually the name of the office of the Cohong in Thirteen Factory Street), a pool of money raised by levies (公所费, gōngsuǒfèi) on the trades of individual merchants to cover the debts of any bankrupt hong at year end and to pay the various exactions demanded by the government. Officially, the rate levied for the fund was 3% of the value of goods. This tax originally applied only to tea but by the late eighteenth century had expanded to cover 69 different products.[6][7]