MODERN EUROPEAN WORKSHOP
29 MAY 2014 ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
Panel: Central Europe and the Lure of Asia
Design for a fan. Oil on board. Europe, c. 1700.
PRIVATE ENTERPRISE AND FLEXIBLE CITIZENSHIP: MERCHANTS
AND MARINERS OF THE CHINA TRADE, C. 1720-1750
MEIKE FELLINGER (UNIVERSITY OF WARWICK)
A late eighteenth century depiction of the Canton factories. European traders were having
access only to restricted areas around the factories and particular walking paths in the
country side around Canton (modern-day Guangzhou)
Part I:
Flexible citizens: nomads
of the Canton trade
Part II:
Interlopers and the
changing geography of
private trade
Conclusions
Thank you for your attention!
The research for this presentation was generously funded by the
European Research Council Advanced Grant Scheme
If you have any further questions, please contact:
m.fellinger@warwick.ac.uk
Charles Irvine of Drum (1693-1771)
Born and died in Aberdeen
After 1715 Jacobite exile in France
Merchant in Rouen in the 1720s
Entered the Indies Trade via the
Ostend Company
Between 1733-46 made six voyages
as supercargo for the SEIC
Became major wholesale merchant
and tea smuggler