The Thirteen Factors in Canton, around 1820, with the trading posts of Denmark, Spain, the United States, Sweden, Great Britain and the Netherlands.
The Guangzhou Canton System or System (1757-1842) was the trading system with which the United Kingdom could fully control China's trade with Western countries. The system was named after the South China port city of Kanton (now called Guangzhou), the only port in China that was open to foreigners. History
In the 16th century, several European countries found their way to China, the first of Spain and Portugal. In the 17th century the Dutch and the British came. The British East India Company opened in 1699 a factor in the city. In 1728, the United East Indian Company also opened a factor in Kanton. China, however, conducted an isolationist policy at the time, but despite the attempts to keep European traders on Macau, for the Chinese coast, European trade in China expanded.
In response to British efforts to trade in northern port cities, Chinese emperor Qianlong issued a decree in 1757 that it was decided that Canton would become the only port city where foreign traders were allowed. This new Cantonese system led to a tightening of the rules that foreign traders had to adhere to. In terms of organization, it was very similar to the trade through Mongolian tribunal missions on the northern and northwestern boundary of the empire. The new system no longer allowed Europeans to trade directly with Chinese citizens. On the other hand, the Europeans had to outsource all trade to a so-called hong, a cooperative of Chinese traders who had the right to act on behalf of foreigners. The Europeans, and later the Americans, were forbidden to enter the walled city of Kanton, so they settled in a suburb in the so-called Thirteen Factories on the Pearl River.
For a long time, Europeans accepted these strict trading conditions. In addition to silk and porcelain, the Chinese exported tea. The Chinese, on the other hand, had little interest in Western products. They only imported some spices, cotton fabrics and European firearms. For example, the European trade balance in the 18th century relative to China was quite negative. After 1800 this changed because the English were increasingly entering Indian opium in China. As a result, the trade balance for the English soon changed from negative to positive. The Chinese government tried to stop the supply of opium which eventually led to the First Opium War in 1839. The war was won by Britain and at the Nanking Treaty, the British demanded China to open five port cities for trade, which ended the Canton system.
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