Howqua facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Howqua
Portrait by George Chinnery, 1830
Born	Wu Bingjian 1769 Guangzhou, China
Died	4 September 1843 (age 75) Guangzhou, China
Known for	Founder of Cohong – Ewo (怡和)
Children	Adopted

Howqua
Portrait by Lam Qua
Chinese	伍秉鑑
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wǔ Bǐngjiàn Wade–Giles Wu Ping-chien Yale Romanization Wǔ Bǐngjyàn IPA [ù pìŋtɕi̯ɛ̂n] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Ngh Bíng Gaam IPA [ŋ̬̍ pɪ̌ŋ kāːm] Jyutping Ng5 Bing2 Gaam3 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Ngó͘ Péng-kàm
Business name
Chinese	浩官
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Hào Guān Wade–Giles Hao Kuan Yale Romanization Hàu Gwān Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Houh Gūn IPA [hòu kúːn] Jyutping Hou6 Gun1 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Hō-koaⁿ

Wu Bingjian (Chinese: 伍秉鑑; 1769 – 4 September 1843), trading as "Houqua" and better known in the West as "Howqua" or "Howqua II", was a hong merchant in the Thirteen Factories, head of the E-wo hong and leader of the Canton Cohong. He was once the richest man in the world.

Biography

A Hokkien by his paternal ancestry with ancestry from Quanzhou, Wu was known to the West as Howqua, as was his father, Wu Guorong, the founder of the family business or hong. The name "Howqua" is a romanization, in his native Hokkien language, of the business name under which he traded, "浩官" (Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Hō-koaⁿ). He became rich on the trade between China and the British Empire in the middle of the 19th century during the First Opium War. 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. In an 1822 fire which burned down many of the cohongs, the silver that melted allegedly formed a little stream almost two miles in length. Of the three million dollars that the Qing government was required to pay the British as stipulated in the Treaty of Nanking, Howqua single-handedly contributed one million. He died the same year in Canton.

The founders of then world-renowned firms including James Matheson, William Jardine, Samuel Russell and Abiel Abbot Low all had a close relationship with Howqua. Portraits of the pigtailed Howqua in his robes still hang in Salem and Newport mansions built by American merchants grateful for his assistance.

Legacy

Following the 1842 Treaty of Nanking, which spelled the end of the Thirteen Factories, Jardine Matheson & Co continued to use "Ewo" as their Chinese name.

A settlement on the east bank of Lake Eildon, 23 kilometres (14 mi) from Mansfield, in Victoria, Australia, is named after him, possibly by Chinese miners who passed through the area during the Victorian gold rush.

See also

In Spanish: Howqua para niños

• Houqua, 1844 clipper ship