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Merchants of Shanghai: the hongs, the Baghdadi families and the men who built on the Bund

The foreign trading houses, their compradors, and the merchant families Shanghai still talks about: Hardoon, Sassoon, Kadoorie, Lester.

Most of the big buildings on the Bund were put up by trading houses, the foreign firms Shanghai called yanghang (洋行) and English-speakers called hongs. The Concessions Gazetteer counts 41 of them in 1852 and 643 foreign firms by the end of 1911. This topic gathers the firms, the Chinese compradors who worked for them and then competed with them, and the merchant families whose names Shanghai still uses.

The main story, the hongs, follows them from the first leases on the riverfront in the 1840s, through opium, tea and silk, into shipping, insurance, mills and property, and out again in the 1950s.

The people behind it each have a profile page, with a map of their buildings and a check of the stories told about them:

  • The firms: Jardine, Matheson & Co. (怡和), Dent & Co. (宝顺), Russell & Co. (旗昌), Butterfield & Swire (太古), Gibb, Livingston & Co. (仁记), and the two Sassoon houses.
  • The Baghdadi families. Silas Aaron Hardoon (哈同) went to Shanghai for David Sassoon & Co. in 1873 and later ran E. D. Sassoon’s property department before setting up on his own. The Sassoons held on in Shanghai until 1958, when the last of Victor Sassoon’s businesses were handed over against unpaid taxes. Elly Kadoorie (嘉道理) also started as a clerk for E. D. Sassoon & Co.
  • Henry Lester (雷士德), the property man whose estate, valued at 14.34 million taels a year after his death, paid for the Lester Institute of Technical Education and the Lester Institute of Medical Research.
  • The compradors: Tong King-sing (唐廷枢), Xu Run (徐润), Zheng Guanying (郑观应) and Xi Zhengfu (席正甫).

The related stories read the same streets from other angles: the Bund’s buildings, the shikumen lanes that were the property firms’ business, Art Deco, and the Council’s opium licences.

Read in order

  1. Part 1 · The hongs

    The hongs: how Shanghai's foreign trading houses rose, changed and left, 1843–1958

    From 24 foreign firms in 1848 to 643 in 1911: how the hongs began in opium, moved into ships, mills and property, and left in 1954–58.

    22 min read

Everything on one map

Every place the parts mention. Numbers run through the parts in reading order.

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People, families and firms

  • Jardine, Matheson & Co.怡和洋行The Scottish-founded hong that opened in Shanghai in 1843, built the Bund's No. 27 and ran steamers, wharves and mills until it left in 1954.
  • Dent & Co.宝顺洋行The British hong at No. 14 the Bund, Jardines' great rival in opium, which failed in 1867 and whose comprador Xu Run went on to China Merchants.
  • Russell & Co.旗昌洋行The largest American house in China, whose Shanghai Steam Navigation Co. ran the Yangtze until its fleet was sold to China Merchants in 1877.
  • Butterfield & Swire太古洋行The Yorkshire-Liverpool house that opened in Shanghai in 1867 and founded the China Navigation Company in 1872 to compete on the Yangtze.
  • Black-and-white photograph of a corner building of red brick and stone with a conical tower, balconies and bamboo scaffolding on one side.Gibb, Livingston & Co.仁记洋行Scottish-run hong founded at Canton in 1836; opened in Shanghai in 1844, gave Jinkee Road its name and acted as agent for insurers and shipping lines.
  • Black-and-white photograph of a three-storey brick-and-stone building with arched verandas, seen across a gravel courtyard.David Sassoon & Co.老沙逊洋行Bombay trading house founded in 1832 by David Sassoon; opened in Shanghai in 1845 and was known as Old Sassoon after the family firm split.
  • E. D. Sassoon & Co.新沙逊洋行Rival Sassoon house founded by Elias David Sassoon (1867 or 1872) that grew from opium and cotton into Shanghai's biggest landlord under Victor Sassoon.
  • Black-and-white group photograph of an elderly bearded man in a turban, seated, with three men standing beside him.The Sassoon family沙逊家族Baghdad-born Jewish merchant family that traded opium and cotton from Bombay, opened in Shanghai in 1845 and later built towers on the Bund.
  • Sir Victor Sassoon维克多·沙逊British-Indian baronet (1881–1961) who moved the E. D. Sassoon group to Shanghai and built Sassoon House, Cathay Mansions and the Embankment Building.
  • Black-and-white oval portrait of a heavy-set man with a dark moustache, wearing a checked tie and dark jacket.Silas Aaron Hardoon哈同Baghdad-born Jewish merchant, Nanjing Road landlord and owner of Aili Garden; his estate was disputed for sixteen years after his death in 1931.
  • Luo Jialing (Liza Hardoon)罗迦陵Shanghai-born wife of Silas Hardoon, Buddhist patron of Aili Garden, and sole heir of his estate until her death in 1941.
  • Kadoorie family嘉道理家族Baghdad-born brothers who reached Hong Kong in the 1880s, built a power-and-hotel group, and left Shanghai the Marble Hall, now the Children's Palace.
  • Faded newspaper-style photograph of an elderly man with a white moustache in evening dress with a sash and medals.Sir Elly Kadoorie艾利·嘉道理Baghdad-born broker (1867-1944), former Sassoon clerk, who built the Kadoorie fortune and Marble Hall in Shanghai, where he died under occupation.
  • Lawrence Kadoorie, Baron Kadoorie劳伦斯·嘉道理Elly Kadoorie's elder son (1899-1993), who led China Light and Power from 1945 and became Hong Kong's first native-born life peer in 1981.
  • Sir Horace Kadoorie贺理士·嘉道理Elly Kadoorie's younger son (1902-1995), who founded the Shanghai Jewish Youth Association in 1937 and was in Shanghai until 1948.
  • Henry Lester雷士德Southampton-born surveyor (1840–1926) who made a fortune in Shanghai property; his trust built the Lester medical and technical institutes.
  • Lester, Johnson & Morriss德和洋行Shanghai architecture firm (德和洋行) of Henry Lester and Gordon Morriss; designed the North China Daily News Building at Bund 17.
  • Black-and-white studio portrait of a young clean-shaven man in a tweed jacket and dark tie.László Hudec邬达克Hungarian architect (1893–1958) who reached Shanghai in 1918 as an escaped prisoner of war and designed the Park Hotel, Grand Theatre and Wukang Mansion.
  • Black-and-white portrait of a man with a moustache wearing a skullcap and a dark silk jacket with toggle buttons.Tong King-sing唐廷枢Interpreter who was Jardine Matheson's Shanghai comprador from 1863 and in 1873 took charge of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company.
  • Xu Run徐润Comprador of Dent and Co. who became deputy head of China Merchants in 1873 and a large Shanghai property investor.
  • Black-and-white full-length photograph of an older man in a long dark gown standing on garden steps, with Chinese calligraphy written over the picture.Zheng Guanying郑观应Guangdong-born comprador of Butterfield & Swire and author of Shengshi weiyan (1893), who argued for parliamentary government and commercial reform.
  • Xi Zhengfu席正甫Suzhou-born money-shop apprentice who became the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank's Shanghai comprador in 1874 and handled most of its Qing government loans.
  • Edward Cunningham金能亨American partner in Russell & Co. who founded a Yangtze steamship line in 1862, sat on the first Municipal Council in 1854 and chaired it in 1868-69.
  • Sepia close portrait of a man with swept hair and a grey beard, in a dark coat.William Keswick耆紫薇Jardine Matheson partner and Shanghai Municipal Council chairman in 1865–66, who urged the Council to extend settlement roads west beyond the racecourse.
  • William Johnston Keswick恺自威Shanghai-born Jardine Matheson manager, Municipal Council chairman in 1940-41, shot and wounded at the ratepayers' meeting of January 1941.
  • Black-and-white profile portrait of an older man with a white moustache and short beard, facing left, in a tweed jacket.Thomas Hanbury汉璧礼British merchant and Municipal Councillor whose Eurasian school became the Hanbury School, the first school run by the Shanghai Municipal Council.
  • Francis Blackwell Forbes福士American partner in Russell & Co. who sat on both the Shanghai Municipal Council and the French Council, and led the Asiatic Society in 1873–74.

Places to see

The Jardine Matheson Building lit up at night, a stone façade with giant columns above the ground floor.
Photo: Supanut Arunoprayote · CC BY 4.0 · Cropped to fit

Building· 1920–1922

Jardine Matheson Building

怡和洋行大楼Yíhé Yángháng Dàlóu

Jardine Matheson's 1922 head office at Bund No. 27, granite with Corinthian columns, on a lot the firm held from 1845; now shops and restaurants.

Sassoon House, now the Fairmont Peace Hotel, on the Bund in Shanghai.
Photo: Suicasmo

Building· 1926–1929

Sassoon House (Fairmont Peace Hotel)

沙逊大厦Shāxùn Dàshà

Victor Sassoon's 1929 granite tower with the green copper pyramid, home of the Cathay Hotel and since 1956 the Peace Hotel, now run by Fairmont.

The HSBC Building with its dome, seen across the open square on the Bund.
Photo: ScareCriterion12 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped to fit

Building· 1921–1923

HSBC Building

上海浦东发展银行大楼Shànghǎi Pǔdōng Fāzhǎn Yínháng Dàlóu

Palmer & Turner's 1923 head office for HSBC, the widest building on the Bund, with a mosaic dome hidden under paint from 1956 to 1997; now SPD Bank.

The Glen Line Building on the corner of the Bund and Beijing Road, a grey stone block with a small tower.
Photo: Supanut Arunoprayote · CC BY 4.0 · Cropped to fit

Building· 1920–1922

Glen Line Building

格林邮船大楼Gélín Yóuchuán Dàlóu

1922 shipping office by Palmer & Turner at Bund No. 28; later the US consulate and Shanghai's radio station, now the Shanghai Clearing House.

The Nissin Building, a narrow six-storey stone façade on the Bund.
Photo: Livelikerw · CC BY-SA 3.0

Building· c. 1921–1925

Nissin Building

日清大楼Rìqīng Dàlóu

Six-storey granite office of the Japanese shipping line Nisshin Kisen Kaisha, built 1921–1925 by Lester, Johnson & Morriss at No. 5 the Bund.

The Yangtze Insurance Building, a narrow seven-storey stone façade with a flag on top.
Photo: Livelikerw · CC BY-SA 3.0

Building· c. 1917–1920

Yangtze Insurance Building

扬子大楼Yángzǐ Dàlóu

1920 office of the Yangtsze Insurance Association at Bund No. 26 by Palmer & Turner, with a mansard roof; now the Agricultural Bank of China.

Also on this subject

Sources

  1. 1.Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer, part 1, ch. 2, sect. 2: foreign nationals (上海租界志·第一篇 区域人口·第二章 人口·第二节 各国侨民), 上海市档案馆（编）, 上海社会科学院出版社；上海市地方志办公室数字方志（在线）, 2001 — sect. 2, 从业状况gazetteer
  2. 2.Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer, part 6 People, ch. 1 Biographies: Silas Aaron Hardoon (1846–1931) (上海租界志·第六篇 人物·第一章 人物传略·哈同（Silas Aaron Hardon　1846～1931年）), 上海市档案馆（编）, 上海社会科学院出版社；上海市地方志办公室数字方志（在线）, 2001 — 上海租界志·人物传略·哈同gazetteer
  3. 3.Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer, part 6 People, ch. 1 Biographies: Henry Lester (1840–1926) (上海租界志·第六篇 人物·第一章 人物传略·雷士德（Henry Lester　1840～1926年）), 上海市档案馆（编）, 上海社会科学院出版社；上海市地方志办公室数字方志（在线）, 2001 — 上海租界志·人物传略·雷士德gazetteer
  4. 4.Shanghai Concessions Gazetteer, part 6 People, ch. 1 Biographies: Victor Sassoon (1881–1961) (上海租界志·第六篇 人物·第一章 人物传略·维克多·沙逊（Elias Victor Sassoon　1881～1961年）), 上海市档案馆（编）, 上海社会科学院出版社；上海市地方志办公室数字方志（在线）, 2001 — 上海租界志·人物传略·维克多·沙逊gazetteer
  5. 5.Elly Kadoorie 1867-1944 (people record) (Elly Kadoorie 1867 - 1944), Science Museum Group — biography paragraph 1website