¹ The meaning of the word “comprador” has changed over time. Today it has been drastically altered to depart even further from its original sense. It is used to refer to all persons who associated with foreigners in one way or another, acting as traitors. In this paper, the term is used in its original economic sense.

² The American merchant, Augustine Heard, Jr., wrote about the comprador: “He engaged all the native servants and employees and was personally responsible for their honesty and general good conduct. The foreigner of course had no means of ascertaining the character of his Chinese servants, and relied implicitly on the selections of his comprador, who as implicitly accepted the responsibility.” Augustine Heard, Jr., “The Poisoning in Hongkong,” 9. Heard Collection, GQ–2, Baker Library, Harvard Business School. Hereafter cited as Heard Collection.

³ Augustine Heard, Jr., “Diary,” 33. Heard Collection, FP–4.

⁴ John Heard to his parents, January 23, 1846. Heard Collection, FL–2.

⁵ H. G. Bridges (Hankow) to A. F. Heard (Shanghai), June 29, 1866. Heard Collection, HM–23.

⁶ George V. W. Fisher (Foochow) to Joseph Jardine (Hong Kong), May 1, 1856. Jardine, Matheson & Co. Archives, University Library, Cambridge University, England. Hereafter cited as Jardine, Matheson & Co. Archives.

⁷ See Fairbank, John K., Eckstein, Alexander, and Yang, Lien-sheng, “Economic Change in Early Modern China: An Analytic Framework,” Economic Development and Cultural Change, IX (October, 1960), 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁸ For the comprador-merchants' investments in steamship enterprise, see Liu, Kwang-Ching, Anglo-American Steamship Rivalry in China, 1862–1874 (Cambridge, Mass., 1962)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also his “Steamship Enterprise in Nineteenth-Century China,” Journal of Asian Studies, XVIII (August, 1959), 435–455.

⁹ Fang T'eng, “Yü Hsia-ch'ing lun” (On Yü Hsia-ch'ing), Tsa-chih yüeh-k'an (Monthly Miscellany), November, 1943, 46–51; December, 1943, 62–67; January, 1944, 59–64.

¹⁰ Some of the comprador-merchants' investment activities can be seen in Ching-yü, Wang, comp., Chung-kuo chin-tai kung-yeh shih tzu-liao chi-yao; ti erh chi (Selected Materials for China's Modern Industrial History, Second Series), (2 vols., Peking, 1960).Google Scholar Hereafter cited as Wang Ching-yü.

¹¹ Chu Ta-ch'un (Chai Lai-fong b. 1855), a native of Wusih, Kiangsu, was a comprador to the British firm of Jardine, Matheson & Co. at Shanghai at the turn of the century. For his investments, see Wright, Arnold (ed.), Twentieth Century Impressions of Hongkong, Shanghai, and Other Treaty Ports of China: Their History, People, Commerce, Industries, and Resources (London, 1908), 548.Google Scholar

¹² Wang Ching-yü, II, 961.

¹³ Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions, passim.

¹⁴ See Schumpeter, Joseph A., The Theory of Economic Development (Cambridge, Mass., 1934)Google Scholar and Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (New York, 1950).

¹⁵ For social mobility in Ming-Ch'ing China, see Ho, Ping-ti, The Ladder of Success in Imperial China: Aspects of Social Mobility, 1368–1911 (New York, 1962).Google Scholar

¹⁶ For the functions of the gentry, see Ch'ü, T'ung-tsuLocal Government in China under the Ch'ing (Cambridge, Mass., 1962), 180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

¹⁷ Hsü Jun was the comprador to the British firm of Dent & Co. at Shanghai, 1861–1868. Hsü Jun, Hsü Yü-chai tzu-hsü nien-p'u (Autobiography of Hsü Jun, 1927), 14b–16b, 29b, 83. Hereafter cited as Hsü Jun.

¹⁸ Takee (Yang Fang), comprador to Jardine, Matheson & Co. at Shanghai in the 1850's, was a native of Chin-hsien, Chekiang. See Toyama Gunji, “Shanhai no shansho Yō Bō (The Shanghi gentry-merchant Yang Fang), Toyoshi kenkyū, new series, November, 1945, 33.

¹⁹ Cheng Kuan'ying, Sheng-shih wei-yen hou-p'ien (Warnings to a Prosperous Age, Second Part), 15 chüan (Shanghai, 1920), 22–23.

²⁰ Choping was the comprador to the American firm of Russell & Co. at Shanghai, 1865–1874. See Heard Collection, HL–36. Ho Tung was the comprador to Jardine, Matheson & Co. at Hong Kong, 1883–1900. See North China Herald, November 29, 1870, 395. Hsing-lien, Wu, Hsing-kang Hua-jen ming-jen shih-lueh (The Prominent Chinese in Hong Kong), 2 vols., Hong Kong, 1937), I, 1–2.Google Scholar

²¹ For Tong King-sing, see Shen pao, June 18 and September 4, 1874. Tong was the comprador to Jardine, Matheson & Co. at Shanghai, 1863–1873. For Ho Tung, see Harrison, Brian (ed.), University of Hong Kong: The First 50 Years, 1911–1961 (Hong Kong, 1962), 154.Google Scholar

²² Shang-hai hsien hsü chih (Gazette of the Shanghai hsien, continued), 30 chüan (Shanghai, 1918), 14.

²³ This local militia was called Yang-ch'iang tui (foreign-weapon corps). Hsü was a comprador to Dent & Co. in the 1840's. Hsü Jun, et al., Hsiang-shan Hsü-shih tsung-p'u (The History of the Hsü clan in the Hsiang-shan hsien), 8 ts'e (Shanghai, 1844), 79b.

²⁴ For a brief account of the history of the Chinese merchant corps, see Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions, 413.

²⁵ Hsü Jun, 14b–16b.

²⁶ Tong Mow-chee (Shanghai) to F. B. Johnson (Shanghai), September 27, 1877, Jardine, Matheson and Company Archives. Tong was the comprador to Jardine's at Tientsin (1871–1873) and Shanghai (1873–1897). North China Herald, August 28, 1875.

²⁷ Hsü Jun, 16. Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions, 548.

²⁸ Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions, 560; North China Herald, May 16, 1874.

²⁹ Sheng was a comprador to Dent & Co. at Hankow in the 1860's. Hsü Jun, 14b, 15.

³⁰ Wu T'ing-sheng was a comprador to the British-American Tobacco Co. Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions, 543–44, 662.

³¹ Kung-chen, Ko, Chung-kuo pao-hsüeh shih (History of Chinese Journalism), (Hong Kong, 1949), 145.Google Scholar

³² Chin-wei, Li, (ed.), Hsiang-kang pai-nien shih (A History of Hong Kong, 1848–1948), (Hong Kong, 1949), 145.Google Scholar

³³ Shen-pao-kuan, , comp., Tsui-chin wu-shih-nien, Shen-pao-kuan wu shih chou-nien chi-nien (The Past Fifty Years, in Commemoration of the Shen-pao's Golden jubilee, 1872–1922), (Shanghai, 1923), 2:28.Google Scholar

³⁴ Hsü Jun, 31.

³⁵ Wu Hsing-lien, 17. Hua-tzu jih-pao, April 19, 1901, June 27, 1905.

³⁶ For Hsü Jun and Chu Pao-san, see I-feng, Huang, “Kuan-yü chiu Chung-kuo mai-pan chieh-chi ti yen chiu” (“A Study of the Comprador Class in Old China”), Li-shih yen-chiu, LXXXVII (June 15, 1964), 98.Google Scholar Hereafter cited as Huang I-feng. Huang's article was based on the archives of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce. For Chu Ta-ch'un and Yü Hsia-ch'ing, see Shang-hai t'ung-chih kuan ch'i-k'an, (Journal of the Gazetteer Bureau of Shanghai), II (1934), 930–1088.

³⁷ Huang I-feng, 98.

³⁸ Ch'en Lien-po, comprador to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation at Canton, was the president of the General Chamber of Commerce at Canton from 1920 to 1922. Yang Mei-nan (1872–1941), comprador to the British firm of Butterfield and Swire (1895–1939), was a director of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce at Chefoo. Both Liu and Teng were instrumental in organizing the Chinese Chamber of Commerce at Hankow, and Liu was elected as its vice-president in the 1900's. See Yang-kung Mei-nan ai-ssu-lu (Memorial Records of Yang Mei-nan), ca. 1941. Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions, 723.

³⁹ For Chang, see Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions, 532. For Wei and Ho, see Wu Hsing-lien, I, 3; II, 4.

⁴⁰ Hsü Jun, et at., 9: 1. Cheng Kuan-ying was a comprador to Butterfield & Swire at Shanghai, 1873–1881.

⁴¹ Shang-hai yen-chiu hsü-chi, 303. Shang-hai yen-chiu, 152, 344.

⁴² Shang-hai chin-jung chi-kuan i-lan (A List of the Financial Institute in Shanghai), (Shanghai, 1920), 16.

⁴³ The Ho Tung Road is in north Kowloon, not far from the Boundary Street.

⁴⁴ Ch'ou-pan i-wu shih-mo (A Complete Account of the Management of Barbarian Affairs), (Peiping, 1929), Tao-kuang period, 29:13; 30:28b; 28:3; 28:30–41b.

⁴⁵ Ibid., 38: ll–13b.

⁴⁶ Cheng Kuan-ying, Hou-p'ien, 8: 42–43.

⁴⁷ Chang Chih-tung, Chang Wen-hsiang-kung ch'üan-chi (The Complete Works of Chang Chih-tung), 26: 2a-b.

⁴⁸ Ch'ou-pan i-wu shih-mo, T'ung-chih period, 4: 40–43; 14: 18–27. Hsü Jun, et al., 7: 64.

⁴⁹ For Wu's activities in Shanghai, see Fairbank, John K., Trade and Diplomacy on the China Coast: The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842–1854 (2 vols., Cambridge, Mass., 1953), I, 395.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ At the invitation of K'ang Kuang-jen, brother of Kiang Yu-wei, Cheng managed the Tzu-ch'iang pao at Shanghai. Cheng Kuan-ying, Hou-p'ien, 15: 5–6.

⁵¹ Wu was a comprador to the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation at Tientsin. Wang Ching-yü, II, 970–971.

⁵² Shu-huai, Wang, Wai-jen yü wu hsü pien-fa (The Foreigners and the 1898 Reform Movement), (Taipei, 1965), 183–84.Google Scholar

⁵³ Chia-lun, Lo (ed.), Kuo-fu nien-p'u (Chronological Biography of Sun Yat-sen), (Taipei, 1958), 84.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ For the compradors' connection with Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary movement, see Shao-po, Ch'en, Hsing-Chung hui ko-ming shih-yao (A Brief History of the Revolutionary Activities of the Hsing-Chung hui) (Taipei, 1956), 7–8, 23, 30, 32.Google ScholarTzu-yu, Feng, Ko-ming i-shih (Reminiscences of the Revolution), III, 1–23, 31–122.Google ScholarChia-lun, Lo (ed.), Ko-ming wen-hsien (Documents of Revolution), (Taipei, 1958–1963), III, 61–79.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ Cheng Kuan-ying, Wei-yen, 1b.

⁵⁶ Lo Chia-lun, Wen-hsien, III, 1, 61.

⁵⁷ Tzu-yu, Feng, Hua-ch'iao ko-ming tsu-chih shih-hua (A History of Revolutionary Organizations of Overseas Chinese), (Taipei, 1954), 4–5.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Lo Chia-lun, Wen-hsien, III, 76.

⁵⁹ Chu Pao-san, Wang I-ting, and Yü Hsia-ch'ing were in charge of finance, communication, and commerce affairs respectively. Hua-tzu jih-pao November 11, 1911. See also Huang I-feng, 98.

⁶⁰ Fang T'eng, 47.

⁶¹ Chung-chüeh, Li, Ch'ieh-wan lao-jen ch'i-shih tzu-hsü (The Autobiography of Li Chung-chüeh at Seventy), (Shanghai, 1922), 3: 189–92.Google Scholar

⁶² Wang I-t'ing (comprador to the Nisshin Kisen Kaisha), Chu Pao-san (comprador to Liddell Bro. & Co.), and Chu Chih-yao (comprador to the Banque de l'lndo-Chine) were very active in the Shanghai government in the early twentieth century. See Shang-hai yen-chiu hsü-chi, 155–56. For the comprador-merchants' political influence, see Wen-chiang, Ting, Liang Jen-kung nien-p'u ch'ang-pien ch'u-kao (First Draft of the Chrolonogical Biography of Liang Ch'i-ch'ao), (Taipei, 1959), 314.Google Scholar

⁶³ The noted comprador Takes refused to have his daughter's feet bound. She was later married, probably in the late 1850's, to the foreign commander of the army, Frederick Townsend Ward of Salem, Massachusetts. Toyama, 29, 34.

⁶⁴ For example, Tong King-sing (1832–1892), comprador to Jardine, Matheson & Co. at Shanghai (1863–1873), was later appointed an official to take charge of China's first steamship company in 1873.

⁶⁵ The family history of Hsii Jun is a good example. See Hsii Jun, 1–8; Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions, 566. Tong King-sing's family held the Jardine, Matheson & Co.'s comprador position at Shanghai for about half a century. See Jardine, Matheson and Company Archives. This long history was surpassed by the Jung family of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China at Hong Kong. From the 1870's, the Hong Kong comprador position of the bank was held by the Jung family for four successive generations. Wright, Twentieth Century Impressions, 178.

⁶⁶ Cheng Kuan-ying, I-yen (On Change), (Shanghai, 1881), 1:25b.

⁶⁷ When China was defeated by France in 1884, Cheng clearly and directly proposed to the government that the parliamentary system be instituted. It was not until 1890 that T'ang Chen and Ch'en Ch'iu made a similar suggestion. Cheng Kuan-ying, Sheng-shih wei-yen hou-p'ien (Warnings to a Prosperous Age, Second Part). 15 chüan. Shanghai, 1920, chüan 1.

⁶⁸ Cheng Kuan-ying, I-yen, 1: 14b, 1: 29b, 2: 23–25b.

⁶⁹ For Cheng Kuan-ying's intellectual outlook, see Hao, Yen-p'ing, “Cheng Kuan-ying: The Comprador as Reformer.” Journal of Asian Studies, XXIX (November, 1969), 15–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁷⁰ Parsons, Talcott, et al., Theories of Society, (2 vols., New York, 1961), II, 944–46Google Scholar. Also see Park's, Robert E. introduction to Stonequist's, E. V.The Marginal Man (New York, 1937), xiii-xviii.Google Scholar

⁷¹ Ibid.