Howqua | |
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 Portrait byGeorge Chinnery, 1830 | |
| Born | Wu Bingjian 1769 |
| Died | 4 September 1843 (age 75) Guangzhou, China |
| Known for | Founding of theE-wo hong |
| Children | At least five,[1] and adoptedJohn Murray Forbes. |
| Howqua | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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_-_50.3792_-_Museum_of_Fine_Arts.jpg) Portrait by an unidentified artist | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 伍秉鑑 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Business name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 浩官 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Wu Bingjian (Chinese:伍秉鑑; 1769 – 4 September 1843[2]), trading as "Houqua"[3] and better known in the West as "Howqua" or "Howqua II",[a][4] was ahong merchant in theThirteen Factories, head of theE-wo hong and leader of the CantonCohong. He was once the richest man in the world.[5][6][7][8]
AHokkien by his paternal ancestry with ancestry fromQuanzhou, Wu was known to the West asHowqua, as was his father, Wu Guorong, the founder of the family business orhong. The name "Howqua" is a romanization, in his nativeHokkien language, of the business name under which he traded, "浩官" (Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Hō-koaⁿ).[9] He became rich on the trade between China and theBritish Empire in the middle of the 19th century during theFirst Opium War. Perhaps the wealthiest man inChina 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 thecohongs,[10] the silver that melted allegedly formed a little stream almost two miles in length.[7][8] Of the three million dollars that theQing government was required to pay the British as stipulated in theTreaty of Nanking, Howqua single-handedly contributed one million.[11] He died the same year inCanton.
After the Opium Wars, Howqua's familial and business lineage quickly diminished. In 1891, the American trading house that had been handling Howqua's international investments, Russell & Company, collapsed. The descendants of Howqua are now commoners.[12] What had been a massive and beautiful estate for the Howqua family is now relatively unmarked in a poor neighborhood in the region ofHonam.[13]
The founders of then world-renowned firms includingJames Matheson,William Jardine,Samuel Russell andAbiel Abbot Low all had a close relationship with Howqua. Portraits of thepigtailed Howqua in his robes still hang inSalem andNewport mansions built by American merchants grateful for his assistance.[citation needed]
Following the 1842Treaty of Nanking, which spelled the end of the Thirteen Factories,Jardine Matheson & Co continued to use "Ewo" as their Chinese name.[14]
A settlement on the east bank ofLake Eildon, 23 kilometres (14 mi) fromMansfield, inVictoria, Australia, is named after him, possibly by Chinese miners who passed through the area during theVictorian gold rush.
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