The book, well researched and lucidly written, tells a story of a Chinese entrepreneur (1769–1843) in Canton in the early decades of the nineteenth century, who was known as Houqua in English historical documents or Wu Bingjian in Chinese. The significance of Houqua lies in the fact that he transformed himself from a local merchant operating his business within the traditional Chinese cultural framework of the pre-Opium War era into a successful global trader by overcoming many of the perceived institutional and cultural barriers. Wong’s portrayal of Houqua challenges such conventional characterizations of early Chinese merchants as being risk-averse, kinship-bound, domestic-oriented, and convention-driven—the qualities that run counter to an image of the Schumpeterian entrepreneur closely associated with dynamic and innovative economies of the West. Furthermore, the author constructs an evidence-based account that Canton Chinese traders played a role in shaping the patterns of global trade at the time. Over the past two decades, there has been a steady accumulation of research devoted to a reexamination of China’s past, until the Sino-British conflict in the 1840s, in all aspects, including commerce. Wong’s book is one such example. His extensive and meticulous archival work across the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans provides proof persuasive enough to convince the reader to adopt a new global perspective in understanding historical facts about Canton trade with the outside world in those days.

From 1757 to 1842 the Qing state allowed Westerners to trade in China, but only with the government-licensed Hong (or Cohong) merchants at the port of Canton. Huoqua became the most prominent of the Hong merchants in the early nineteenth century and made a name for himself as an important player on the global trading scene although he never left his base in Canton. According to Wong’s narrative—based on genealogies, Qing official documents, and the British East India Company (EIC) records—Houqua had a long history of doing business in his family, which migrated from Fujian. He engaged in the family’s business with Europeans in Canton, and found a way to deal evenhandedly with the EIC, the dominant power then, by the early 1800s thanks to his top-notch negotiation skills and his ability to supply quality goods most reliably. He quickly became the largest supplier of teas and nankeen cloth for the EIC in Canton and solidified his standing as the EIC’s primary partner as he consolidated his leadership position among the Hong merchants in the EIC trade and finances for 20 or so years until the EIC concluded its business in Canton in 1834.

To expand his business globally, Houoqua built close trading partnerships with American merchants engaged in the China trade including two brothers of the Forbes family, Robert Bennet Forbes (1804–1889) and John Murray Forbes (1813–1898). Robert was the head of Russell and Company, the then largest American trading house in China, and John retained his business interests in the company. The two brothers not just handled most of Houqua’s American trade, but were also entrusted with the management of his domestic business when they were in China. Without leaving Canton, Houqua amassed a wealth of information on the supply and demand for and prices of major commodities traded in different parts of the world. Far from being a passive supplier just waiting for orders from international traders in Canton to come to him, he was proactive in putting his market knowledge into practice, offering advice on pricing to his international partners, successfully negotiating prices of goods in his best interests, and excellently performing delicate balancing acts for different foreign markets. Through such acts, Houqua made a tremendous impact on the global flows of such goods as teas and nankeen cloth (but not opium). He earned trust and respect from his foreign trade partners who contributed to the increased visibility of Houqua worldwide. His trademark image soon spread across the world as his portrait paintings were exhibited in such public venues as museums, libraries, art markets, and also held as the partners’ private collections overseas. Even Madame Tussauds in London could not overlook his presence and exhibited his wax figure in the mid-1800s. Wong argues that the global spread of Houqua’s image was actually part of his business strategy to maintain his trust and intimacy he had built with his foreign partners and foster his long-lasting relationships with them without going abroad.

One surprising episode given in the book is that in 1842 Houqua entrusted his investments to John Murray Forbes who was given a free hand in investing his money without regular-interval reporting requirement, forming a “blind trust” (p. 179). Wong’s laborious analysis of the fragmentary documentation—financial records as well as copies of correspondence between John and Russell and Company partners in the Forbes archives in particular—reveals the inner workings of Houqua’s sizeable portfolio named American Stock Investments, the total amount of which is estimated at U.S. $750,000 to 1,000,000 before 1874 (p. 191), a nontrivial amount in the nineteenth century, and a demonstration of the two men’s relationship bonding on trust and commitment behind the financial arrangements. For many years after Houqua’s death in 1843, John remained true to his commitment to his Chinese business partner and continued to invest in America on his behalf.

Wong’s narrative of Houqua reconfirms the need to view early Chinese entrepreneurs in a more dynamic and global perspective. The reader will find many of the attributes of the Schumpeterian entrepreneur in Houqua who created his own fortune and flourished globally despite the political and social circumstances of early-nineteenth-century Canton hardly conducive to global business. The book is also a stern reminder that all sorts of barriers could stand in the way of sustainable business growth. For instance, the wartime governmental exactions, involuntary bad debts owed by government officials, and the absence of a growth mindset in the succeeding generations, just to name a few, contributed to the falling fortunes of Houqua’s family. The book will, no doubt, encourage renewed scholarly interest in writing about other nineteenth- and twentieth-century Chinese entrepreneurs from a global perspective, firmly grounded in archival evidence.