Expanding Possibilities 397
foreign vessels that offered greater protection. Fourthly, the Shanghai
Daotai (Circuit Intendant), being a Cantonese, allowed teas and silks to
βind their way into the hands of the Canton brokers. The monopoly and
the excessive duties raised on transporting foreign goods to the northern
ports hampered the business of the local traders. Ironically, while the
export trade conducted by foreign vessels increased, the junk trade was
languishing.^174
Toward the mid-point of the nineteenth century, China’s coastal and
overseas trades were both in a state of βlux. At this point in time, as shown
earlier, at βirst glance the Chinese carrying trade along the coast seems to
have remained robust. In 1848, Rutherford Alcock reports that the junk
trade along the coast “is very great”. Turning to China’s overseas junk
trade, he observes that, “there is also a large though decreasing trade”.^175
By and large, Alcock thought that the maritime trade of China was on
the decline, although it did remain substantial. The foreign trade carried
in Chinese junks was clearly heavily affected, especially in the Straits, as
a consequence of the diversion of the Chinese carrying trade to foreign
vessels. In the Archipelago and the Philippines, the decline was caused
by the restrictions and monopolies imposed by the respective colonial
authorities. Rutherford Alcock also seems to be suggesting another
more damaging factor for the decline: the risk and losses incurred by the
rampant piracy on the coast. There was a notorious incident in which for
several weeks the βleet of the piratical junks blockaded the free passage
of Chinese vessels near Shanghai in broad daylight. Alcock also reports
two other cases, namely the capture of a large Siamese junk and of a
Fujian junk from Taiwan by pirates.^176
For a lengthy period of time, the long-haul interregional carrying
trade to the Nanyang had been within the purview of the Chinese junks.
Nevertheless, since the late 1760s, the British country traders who made
their appearance in Canton around this time, had had their eyes βixed
on the lucrative carrying trade between Southeast Asia and China. As
a result, the growth of British private trade “increasingly and directly
competed with the Chinese junk trade”.^177
- Rutherford Alcock in FO 228/136, no. 151, John Bowring to the Earl of
Malmesbury, Encl. 6, pp. 25a‒29a. - Rutherford Alcock, “Report on Maritime Trade of China” (1848), in FO 17/142,
no. 16, Encl.; BPP; and NCH. - Ibid.
- John King Fairbank, Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the
Treaty Ports, 1842‒ 1854 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1953; 2nd
printing, 1969), p. 60.