ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the transformation of the British merchant firm Jardine Matheson from illicit opium smugglers in nineteenth century China to a modern, multi-national group of companies that is involved in a range of legal business activities. In doing so, it will examine the firm’s historical activities as a classic case study of unethical business and look at how the modern business represents this history.
On 1 July 1832, in Canton (Guangzhou), William Jardine and James Matheson rebranded the merchant firm Magniac & Co. to Jardine, Matheson & Co. (Jardine Matheson). The firm quickly became infamous for smuggling opium from Britain’s colonial possessions in India to China. The isolationist Qing Empire had outlawed these opium imports, but the lucrative trade was a significant source of income for the British Empire. As the largest Western opium smugglers, Jardine Matheson also maintained a complex publishing network and lobbied senior British politicians. The firm portrayed Chinese limits on the importation of the highly addictive drug as part of a broader prejudice against “foreigners,” free trade, and Christianity. The firm’s founders, William Jardine and James Matheson, consequently were instrumental in advocating British military intervention in the Opium War (1839–1842) and the acquisition of Hong Kong as a British colony.
Historians have characterized Jardine Matheson as unscrupulous drug smugglers and ruthless warmongers. However, after the Opium Wars, the firm rapidly diversified its business activities. From its dominant position in Hong Kong, Jardine Matheson had withdrawn entirely from the opium trade by the 1870s. Crucially, the firm still exists today. Operating as Jardines, the conglomerate comprises a group of companies with extensive operations across Asia, including engineering and construction, transport services, motor trading, property, retailing, restaurants, hotels, and insurance broking. Jardines continues to thrive in Asia in spite of its historical connection to colonization, war, and exploitation. Importantly, the firm has attempted to reframe this history as a story of collaboration, modernization, and internationalism.
