The Hong Merchants of Canton: Chinese Merchants in Sino-Western Trade, 1684-1798 (Nordic Institute of Asian Studies Monograph Series)

This study eschews the uncritical acceptance of secondary sources that has characterized studies in this field, going back to and reinterpreting previously neglected primary sources, thereby enabling it to chart linkages between the European and Asian trades that have been regarded as parallel but unrelated (or at best competing) activities. In so doing, the work sheds new light on this crucial period.