“fiction - Tai Pan reality The biggest bash at the Factories during these years in Canton took place on January 22, 1839, in honor of William Jardine, who was preparing to return home. Trained as a physician, the Scottish-born Jardine had become become the most powerful British merchant in Canton. For six years, his firm, Jardine, Matheson & Company, had filled the breach left by the end of the British East India Company’s government-backed monopoly of the China trade. Ruthless, flamboyant, with a nearly endless supply of Indian opium at his disposal, he had become immensely rich. He was also feared. One coworker described Jardine as “steady and ardent as a friend, equally steady and implacable as a foe.”30 The Chinese merchant community hated Jardine, nicknaming him “the Iron Headed Rat.”31 Ujifusa, Steven. Barons of the Sea: And their Race to Build the World's Fastest Clipper Ship (p. 40). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. Ujifusa, Steven. Barons of the Sea: And their Race to Build the World's Fastest Clipper Ship (p. 40). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. ”
