Page 134 - JCAU-7-1

Journal of Chinese

Architecture and Urbanism

ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Hangs and trading posts: The global

development of the Thirteen Factories in
Guangzhou

2
Xueping Gu 1 and Changxin Peng *
1 Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture,
Guangxi University, Nanning, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China
2 Department of Architecture, School of Architecture, South China University of Technology,
Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China
(This article belongs to Special Issue: Glocalization: Urban Planning and Its Legacy in Modern
Chinese Port Cities)

Abstract

The Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou were a product of economic globalization and
China’s foreign trade policies in the 18 century. Previous studies have discussed
th
the Westernization of their building façades but overlooked their global and local
origins. This article examines the Western origins of the Guangzhou factories, their
local prototypes, and how they integrated Western and local architectural elements.
The origins of the Thirteen Factories trace back to funduqs or fondacos, Mediterranean
*Corresponding author: commercial establishments from the late Middle Ages, which spread globally with
Changxin Peng
(arcxpeng @scut.edu.cn) Portuguese overseas trade after the Age of Discovery. Built along the Pearl River, the
Thirteen Factories were modeled on local hangs, characterized by narrow frontages,
Citation: Gu, X. & Peng, C. (2025). st
Hangs and trading posts: The large depths, storage on the 1 floor, and accommodation above. Western merchants,
global development of the Thirteen leasing these hangs, transformed them into factories by adding Western architectural
Factories in Guangzhou. Journal of elements, such as columns, arches, colonnades, and triangular pediments while
Chinese Architecture and Urbanism,
7(1): 3676. reorganizing interiors with arched corridors. This integration demonstrates the global
https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3676 mobility of architectural forms driven by economic globalization. The Qing dynasty’s
(1644 – 1912) strict regulation confined foreign factories to a designated area along
Received: May 15, 2024
the Pearl River, forming the Thirteen Factories quarter. Continuous planning by
Revised: August 10, 2024 Western merchants introduced early elements of “modernity,” making the quarter
Accepted: August 26, 2024 a site of architectural and functional innovation. Globalization and modernization
were central to the Thirteen Factories’ development, blending architectural traditions
Published online: January 6, 2025
and influencing Guangzhou’s evolution. These forces profoundly impacted the site’s
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s). transformation and contributed to the globalization of Guangzhou today.
This is an open-access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution-
Non-Commercial 4.0 International Keywords: Guangzhou; Thirteen Factories; Hang; Trading post; Globalization
(CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits all
non-commercial use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is
properly cited. 1. Introduction
Publisher’s Note: AccScience The Thirteen Factories in Guangzhou were integral to the foreign trade system of
Publishing remains neutral with Qing China (1644 – 1912). Established in 1685, the Guangzhou Customs marked the
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional beginning of the Guangzhou System, which managed foreign trade through a structured
affiliations. hierarchy. Under this system, Customs collected tariffs, the Thirteen Factories facilitated

Volume 7 Issue 1 (2025) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3676