Hong Merchants
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Those Chinese merchants who, under licence from the government of China, held the monopoly of trade with Europeans until 1842, when the restriction was
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Hong Merchants” mean?
Those Chinese merchants who, under licence from the government of China, held the monopoly of trade with Europeans until 1842, when the restriction was
Is “Hong Merchants” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.