82 Kenneth S. Latourette, 



Snow/""' J. P. Sturgis/^' and Wetmore and Company.^'''' The 

 names of these firms remained the same from year to year but 

 their composition changed. ^^^ As a rule they were made up of 

 speciahsts, men who had come out to China in early life and 

 had learned the business from the bottom up.^"" Although the 

 American trade was not a government monopoly, it became 

 almost a natural one, for the experience required made it difficult 

 for a new firm to succeed unless closely allied to some older one. 

 As was natural in such a compact group of foreigners there 

 was much community life. In 1836 the Canton General Chamber 

 of Commerce was formed to secure united action in protecting 

 the interests of foreign trade. ^"^ Various missionary and 

 philanthropic associations were organized. Newspapers were 

 started; the "Canton Register" was begun in 1827 by some 

 Englishmen, with Mr. Wood, a young Philadelphian, as editor ; 

 "The Chinese Courier and Canton Gazette," an American enter- 

 prise, published its first number July 28, 1831, but created opposi- 

 tion by its independent position on British questions and did not 

 live long; and "The Canton Press" was started in 1835.^''- 

 Social activities, too, were not neglected. In 1837 the "Canton 

 Regatta Club" was formed, much to the mystification of the 

 practical-minded hong merchants. ^'^^ There is occasional men- 

 tion of formal dinners in which national lines were forgotten.^"* 

 Most of the social life, however, was at Macao. There the 



"'' Chinese Rep., 5 : 431. 



^°' He arrived in 1809 and was in business in China for twenty-five years. 

 Bits of Old China, Hunter, pp. 1 57-161. 



"* Chinese Repository, 5:431. 



^^" Hunter, Fan Kwae at Canton, pp. 156, 157, gives the history of Russell 

 and Company, which shows this statement to be true. Also see Canton 

 Press, Jan. 25, 1840, and Canton Register, Jan. 3, 1831. 



^'"' See as an example, sketch by Hunter of his own life there from 

 1824 to 1842 in his Fan Kwae at Canton, p. i. 



""Anglo-Chinese Kalendar for 1838, Canton, 1838. Eitel, Eur. in China, 

 p. 67, and Chinese Rep., 6 : 44-47. The Chamber of Commerce comprised 

 representatives from all foreign nationalities doing business in Canton. 



"■ See Bibliography. 



^"^ Hunter, Bits of Old China, p. 276. 



^"* Nye, Morning of My Life in China, p. 55, mentions a farewell dinner in 

 1838 to Mr. Jardine, at which one hundred British and American merchants 

 were present. Ch. Rep., 11 : i, mentions a somewhat similar dinner in 1832. 



