Xu Weihuai

In 1740 the Jiangnan merchant, Xu Weihuai, who was related to the Jiangnan merchant, Mao Zhengmao , who had opened a shop, received a certificate for trade in the Eastern Ocean. He rented Li Yongshun’s sand-junk which was registered at Shanghai. This ship had 19 helmsmen and 34 merchants on board and, on the 4th day of the 6th month in 1740, he left Shanghai for Japan. In the 11th month of 1741 their business was completed. They took copper, sea-slugs (haishen) and other commodities on board and returned. But their ship met with a storm and drifted towards the Ryūkyūs, whereupon the merchants were sent back to Fujian by the Ryūkyūan government. The copper, which Xu Weihuai possessed, was to be sold privately, it was not official copper (guantong). In Fujian, he permitted the local authorities (guanfu) to purchase half of it, that is 38,000 jin (c. 22,648 kg or 22.648 t). According to the market price, he received 17.5 silver liang for every 100 jin of copper, which was in all 6,650 silver liang. In 1742 the government took money from the land tax (diding), waited for coins to be cast to assist with the military expenses (bingxiang), and bought with a discount.