Page 142 - JCAU-7-1

Journal of Chinese
Architecture and Urbanism Development of the Thirteen Factories

worldwide were built independently by individual trading
powers and located in different areas. The emergence of
this factory quarter in Guangzhou facilitated collective
participation by Westerners in the construction of the
Thirteen Factories, endowing the quarter with early
“modern” characteristics.
5. Modern planning of the Thirteen
Factories in Guangzhou

5.1. Emergence of the Thirteen Factories quarter
John Friedrich Dalman, a Swedish merchant who visited
Guangzhou during the period 1747 – 1748, documented
the distribution of factories along the river outside
Guangzhou city on a map (Figure 11). The buildings
of the hang merchants were primarily located along
the commercial streets north of Factory Street and the
riverfront areas south of it. In pre-modern Guangzhou,
transportation relied heavily on waterways, making the
river network the city’s lifeline for commercial development
(Zheng et al., 2023). Trading spaces were concentrated
along the riverfront, especially the Pearl River. For foreign
merchants, renting riverside hang buildings was the most
convenient way to load and unload goods, reducing labor
costs for transporting goods. This practicality led to a trend
of building factories along the river.
In 1757, the Qing Court issued a decree stating
that Western ships were permitted to “only be allowed
to receive moorings in Guangzhou for trading, and
prohibited to sail to Ningbo,” marking the beginning of
Figure 10. Plan of the Spanish Factory in 1789. Source: Diario de Manuel the Guangzhou System. Two years later, this restriction
de Agote, R.631 (año 1789), p.95. Gordailua Centro de Colecciones was further tightened, accompanied by reforms regulating
Patrimoniales de Gipuzkoa. Diputación Foral de Gipuzkoa the residence of foreign merchants in Guangzhou
factories. These changes prompted significant spatial
long corridors in the Guangzhou factories, reflecting a transformations within the factory zone. To enforce the
fusion of exotic spatial forms with native architectural segregation of foreign merchants, the government opened
traditions. The habitable spaces were also reorganized to Old China Street at the center of the area and stationed
create apartments with garden entrances. William Hickey guards to confine foreign merchants within a designated
described his residence in the English Factory as being “in space, prohibiting interaction with local residents (Xu,
broad courts, having the sets of rooms on each side, every 1974). In addition, the Guangzhou authorities enforced a
set having a distinct and separate entrance with a small strict residential policy separating Chinese residents and
garden, and every sort of convenience.” (Spencer, 1913, foreigners. Foreign merchants were no longer allowed to
p. 202). In addition, the factories incorporated more office rent houses freely in the western suburbs of Guangzhou;
space than traditional hangs to meet the needs of their instead, they were required to rent factories along the
associated businesses. riverside. Consequently, the factories relocated from
By 1843, there were 12 foreign factories in Guangzhou the streets to the riverside, completely transforming the
that had undergone Westernization of their façades and original residential area into a factory zone. From an urban
interiors while still retaining some characteristics of the planning perspective, this shift led to the establishment of
original hang buildings. What made Guangzhou’s factories the Thirteen Factories quarter, significantly stimulating the
unique was that all those established by Western countries area’s development (Gu & Peng, 2023).
were concentrated in the same section of the city, forming The emergence of the Thirteen Factories quarter holds
a distinct factory quarter. By contrast, most other factories unique historical significance. Unlike the castle-like

Volume 7 Issue 1 (2025) 9 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcau.3676