Howqua

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Howqua was the most important of the Hong merchants and the leader of the Canton Cohong. He was once one of the richest men in the world.

Born Wu Bingjian, he was known to the West as "Howqua" (the second). His father, Wu Guorong was also "Howqua" (the first) and was founder of the family company. He became rich on the trade between China and the British Empire in the middle of the 19th Century during the Opium Wars. 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. Portraits of the pigtailed Howqua in his robes still hang in Salem and Newport mansions built by U.S. merchants grateful for his assistance.

He had close ties to James Matheson, Matthew Jardine, William Jardine, Samuel Russell and Abiel Abbot Low.