co-hong

I, Chen-tse Jin Arn of Canton, Chief Merchant of the co-hong, have this day loaned to Green-Eyed Devil the tai-pan of the Noble House, chief pirate of all foreign devils who have made war on the Heavenly Kingdom and have stolen our island Hong Kong, forty lacs of silver … one million sterling in their specie … and have, with this bullion, saved him from being swallowed by One-Eye, his arch-enemy and rival.

Noble House Clavell, James 1981

I, Chen-tse Jin Arn of Canton, Chief Merchant of the co-hong, have this day loaned to Green-Eyed Devil the tai-pan of the Noble House, chief pirate of all foreign devils who have made war on the Heavenly Kingdom and have stolen our island Hong Kong, forty lacs of silver ... one million sterling in their specie ... and have, with this bullion, saved him from being swallowed by One-Eye, his arch-enemy and rival.

Noble House Clavell, James 1981

That was in 1937 and the first time he had learned the innermost secrets of the House of Chen: that he who became compradore became the ranking leader in Hong Kong of the Hung Mun — the great secret triad society of China that, under Sun Yat-sen, had become the 14K, originally formed to spearhead China's revolt against their hated Manchu overlords; that the compradore was the main, legitimate link between the Chinese hierarchy on the Island and the inheritors of the 14K on the Mainland; that because of Chen-tse Jin Arn, known as Jin-qua, the legendary chief merchant of the co-hong that had possessed the Emperor's monopoly on all foreign trade, the House of Chen was perpetually interlinked with the Noble House by ownership and by blood.

Noble House Clavell, James 1981

That was in 1937 and the first time he had learned the innermost secrets of the House of Chen: that he who became compradore became the ranking leader in Hong Kong of the Hung Mun'the great secret triad society of China that, under Sun Yat-sen, had become the 14K, originally formed to spearhead China's revolt against their hated Manchu overlords; that the compradore was the main, legitimate link between the Chinese hierarchy on the Island and the inheritors of the 14K on the Mainland; that because of Chen-tse Jin Arn, known as Jin-qua, the legendary chief merchant of the co-hong that had possessed the Emperor's monopoly on all foreign trade, the House of Chen was perpetually interlinked with the Noble House by ownership and by blood.

Noble House Clavell, James 1981