Cohong (Gonghang)

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The Cohong was the guild of Chinese merchant houses licensed by the Qing state to be the sole legal counterparties for Western traders at Canton. Every chest of tea bought by a European company was bought through a Hong merchant, who was also made personally liable for the foreigners' debts and conduct — a mechanism of control as much as of commerce. The system gave the Qing a single chokepoint for taxation and supervision, and gave European buyers no direct access to producers, prices or processing knowledge upcountry. The Treaty of Nanking abolished the guild's monopoly in 1842.