Lesson One

Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System – Lesson 01

Life of a Canton Merchant

Introduction
The Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System units make the case that Westerners living and doing business in Canton during the 18th and early-19th centuries lived in an isolated world, prohibited from access to most of the city of Canton, as well as the rest of China. They only came into contact with their counterparts among Chinese merchants. They saw little of the everyday lives of Chinese people of the time. Thus, their understanding of China and the Chinese, even their knowledge of the merchant class, was limited. At the same time, the Westerners living and trading in China had selective vision of their own lives. These units argue that the Westerners created a portrait of their own roles in China through the art that they commissioned or chose to purchase.

In this lesson, students consider the visual evidence within these units to create profiles of Western and Chinese merchants and their world. Students extend their analysis by considering the portrait of life in Canton presented in artwork as “the tip of the iceberg” of a more complicated story, and generate a list of information they would need to compile a more detailed and accurate story.

Objectives
At the conclusion of this activity, students will be better able to:

Use research and visual literacy skills by analyzing and synthesizing research data in visual sources.

Construct a profile of Chinese and Western merchant life in Canton, China.

Discuss reasons that Westerners in China might create a particular and idealized vision of their lives and interactions with Chinese.

Consider the strengths and limitations of research data and pose research questions for continued study.

Time Required
2 class periods.

Materials and preparation
Handouts 01-A and 01-B for all students.

Lesson 01 mini-database, “Images of Merchant Life in Canton,” (.pdf, 2.4 Mb) for all students or groups. Can be downloaded to a shared drive if students work off-line. Students will need to print five images from the mini-database to complete their posters.

Large poster paper, markers, tape or glue for group work.

Optional: student access to the following essay chapters within Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System:

Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System I, China in the World, chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4

Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System III: Canton & Hong Kong, chapters 1, 2, and 3.

Procedure
1. Explain to students that the American and European merchants living and doing business in Canton during the 18th and early-19th centuries lived in an isolated world, prohibited from access to most of the city of Canton, as well as the rest of China. They only came into contact with their counterparts among Chinese merchants. They saw little of the everyday lives of Chinese people of the time. Thus, their understanding of China and the Chinese, even their knowledge of the merchant class, was limited. At the same time, the Westerners living and trading in China had selective vision of their own lives and their role in China. This selective vision was reflected, quite literally, in the paintings and artwork that Westerners commissioned or chose to purchase in China.

Explain to students that they will first consider the portrait of merchant life that Westerners recorded through their art collections. Students will draw information from the essays and visual material in Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System to create composite profiles of Western and Chinese merchants and their world. Students will then critique the data they have collected to consider what aspects of life were absent from the “portrait” that the Western merchants compiled.

2. Divide the class into two groups. One group will focus on the lives of Chinese merchants, as presented in artwork collected by Westerners in Canton. The second group will focus on the lives of Western merchants, as presented in artwork collected by Westerners in Canton. Students may work alone, in pairs, or in small groups. Note that this lesson has been designed for use with the Lesson 01 mini-database of images from Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System; the images depict the lives of Chinese and Western merchants. For more advanced students, the teacher may choose to have students locate images on their own through a careful review of Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System I, III, and IV.

Distribute Handout 01-A and provide students with the Lesson 01 mini-database, “Images of Merchant Life in Canton,” either through printed images or an online link. Allow time for students to analyze their set of images.

3. Optional: to extend student research, ask them to gather more information on the life of Canton merchants through the written essays within Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System. Assign students to read the following essay chapters and collect as much information as they can on the life of either Chinese or Western merchants in Canton, according to their individual assignments:

Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System I:
  Trade with the West
  Commodities and Luxury Exports
  Merchants West & East
  The Narrow World of Artists of the Canton Trade

Rise & Fall of the Canton Trade System III:
  Canton Trade
  Canton Happenings
  The End of the Canton System

4. Once students have completed the image analysis, ask them to synthesize their research by creating their own posters on the life of a Canton merchant. If students have worked individually to this point, have them form small groups of students who researched the same merchant group for this portion of the lesson. Distribute Handout 01-B, as well as poster paper, markers, and glue or tape. Review Handout 01-B, which provides students with instructions for creating their posters. Insure that students position their poster horizontally and draw a line dividing the paper into an upper one-third and lower two-thirds. Instruct students that all their work should be placed above the line they have drawn. The remainder will be completed in step 6 of this lesson. Allow time for students to share their posters in class.

Note: student groups will each need access to the mini-database and a printer to print five images for use on their posters.

5. Discuss student findings by asking them to comment on whether the picture of life in Canton was real or idealized. The Canton Trade System units make the case that the picture of life in Canton was highly selective and idealized—that is, that the artwork that Western merchants collected or commissioned for themselves tended to show positive aspects of their lives and work, as well as the best aspects of their Chinese merchant counterparts. Did students find this to be true from their own analysis of the artwork? Have students present their opinions, referring to their research and analysis to support their opinions.

6. Finally, have students consider what is missing from the picture of life in Canton presented through the images they reviewed.

To accomplish this analysis, ask students to consider the phrase “the tip of the iceberg.” What does this mean? Draw an outline of an iceberg on the board with the waterline of the ocean across the top; show about one-tenth of the iceberg above, and nine-tenths below, the surface of the ocean.

Ask students to consider how the picture of merchant life in Canton represented in the artwork they analyzed might be considered as a limited or partial picture—“the tip of the iceberg” of a much more complicated story. What aspects of the Canton-merchant experience have been left out? What kinds of things are students not seeing in the images they studied?

Direct students to return to their poster work groups. Each group should now add to their poster an outline of an iceberg, with the tip of the iceberg above the line they previously drew and most of the iceberg below. Ask each group to complete their poster by generating a list of aspects of life in Canton that did not come through in the artwork and to fill in the lower part of their poster with their generated items. Students may choose to fill in the lower part of the iceberg with questions they have about merchant life in Canton. If necessary, help students with this task by giving them sample categories such as: work day, home life, merchant-merchant interaction, family, laws and regulations, China beyond Canton, and so on.

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