Wu Bingjian, better known in the West as “Houqua”, or sometimes “Howqua”, was the most successful Chinese merchant of his time. As head of the Cohong (gonghang), the Chinese merchants’ guild authorized in the late 18th century by the Qing court to supervise trade with Western merchants in Canton (Guangzhou), he was both the most rich in the world. In 1834, Wu’s personal wealth was estimated at 26 million Mexican silver dollars (£6.24 million then, approximately (£680 million today). To put this wealth into perspective, contemporary European financier Nathan Rotschild held capital equivalent to US$5.3 million (approximately £1.06 million) in 1828. Wu’s extraordinary ability to maintain a complex balance between his commercial interests, the Qing court and his Western partners, made him the most important player in Western countries’ trade with the China for more than half a century.
This comes from the new and quite interesting Creators of modern China: 100 lives from the Empire to the Republic 1796-1912edited by Jessican Harrison-Hall and Julia Lovell.
