Comprador or Compradore (Chinese: 江摆渡, jīangbăidù; or 康白度, kāngbăidù) is a term used to describe native managers of European business houses in East Asia, and, by extension, social groups that play broadly similar roles in other parts of the world.
The term comprador, a Portuguese word that means buyer, derives from the Latin comparare, which means to procure.[1] The original usage of the word in East Asia meant a native servant in European households in Guangzhou in southern China or the neighboring Portuguese colony at Macao who went to market to barter their employers' wares.[1][2] The term then evolved to mean the native contract suppliers who worked for foreign companies in East Asia or the native managers of firms in East Asia.[1][2] Compradors held important positions in southern China buying and selling tea, silk, cotton and yarn for foreign corporations and working in foreign-owned banks.[2] Robert Hotung, a late nineteenth century compradore of the British owned trading conglomerate History of Jardine, Matheson & Co. was believed to be the richest man in Hong Kong by the age of 35.[3] Notable compradors during the Republican Period in 20th century China included Zhang Jiaao of Shanghai and Tong King-sing of Guangdong.
In Marxism, the term comprador bourgeoisie was later applied to similar trading-class in regions outside of East Asia.[4]