[hong] 
| 1. | (in China) a group of rooms or buildings forming a warehouse, factory, etc. |
| 2. | one of the factories under foreign ownership formerly maintained at Canton. |
hong
the guild of Chinese merchants authorized by the central government to trade with Western merchants at Guangzhou (Canton) prior to the first Opium War (1839-42). Such firms often were called "foreign-trade firms" (yanghang) and the merchants who directed them "hong merchants" (hangshang).
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