Anqua was a prominent Chinese merchant who was active in Amoy in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. He supplied cargos to the ships of the East India companies as well as private vessels from India. In the early years of the eighteenth century, Anqua had a falling out with officials in Amoy which resulted in his business accumulating a substantial debt. He nonetheless continued to trade with foreigners and he owned a junk which sailed to Canton. In 1704, Anqua relocated to Ningbo and Chusan where he continued to supply cargos to foreign ships. He eventually gained the favour of an official in Beijing, who honoured him with a special licence to trade. In 1713, Anqua moved to Canton, but he was not able to gain a foothold in the trade there, as he had previously done in Amoy. In 1723, he returned to Amoy, and then disappears from the records.
Anqua’s example provides us with a window into the early years of the China trade. His experience is reflective of a wider phenomenon where all foreign traders abandoned other Chinese ports, one by one, and removed their operations to Canton. These were the formative years before the rise of the Canton System.