Origins & Early Life

Wu Bingjian (Chinese: 伍秉鑑; 1769 – 4 September 1843), trading as "Houqua" and better known in the West as "Howqua" or "Howqua II", was a hong merchant in the Thirteen Factories, head of the E-wo hong and leader of the Canton Cohong. He was once the richest man in the world. A Hokkien by his paternal ancestry with ancestry from Quanzhou, Wu was known by the Europeans as Howqua, as was his father, Wu Guorong, the founder of the family business or hong. The name "Howqua" is a romanization, in his native Hokkien, of the business name under which he traded, "浩官" (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hō-koaⁿ).

Pivotal Works & Achievements

He became rich on the trade between China and the British Raj in the middle of the 19th century during the First Opium War. Perhaps the wealthiest man in China during the nineteenth century, Howqua was the senior of the hong merchants in Canton, one of the few authorized to trade silk and porcelain with foreigners. In an 1822 fire which burned down many of the cohongs, the silver that melted allegedly formed a little stream almost two miles in length. Of the three million dollars that the Qing regime was required to pay the British as stipulated in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, Howqua allegedly...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

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