What title did the merchants permitted to deal with Canton's 13 Factories carry?

Question

What I know: During the period leading up to the Opium Wars, trade into China from Europe was locked down to 13 buildings in Canton known as the 13 factories. European merchants were only permitted to do business in the 13 factories.

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What I want to know: What title were the merchants who had authorization to deal with the europeans in the 13 factories called? Was there a title for these merchants who were allowed to deal with the outsiders? Was this even a special privilege, or could anyone walk into the 13 factories and strike a deal?

While we're at it, what's a better name than "the period leading up to the Opium Wars" for this period in Chinese history? That's obviously a eurocentric way to specify the time period, and I'd rather not do that.

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I'm shamelessly crossposting this with the Chinese Language Stack Exchange, because I can't figure out which one is the "right" place to put this question. If there's a clear policy on which one I should have used, please accept my apologies in advance and educate me.

Answer 1

I'm not deeply familiar with this history and don't know Chinese, but can link you to some relevant terminology from Wikipedia.

The institutional arrangements for foreign trade under the Qing dyansty prior to the Opium War are widely known as the Canton System. Apparently the primary Chinese term for this was yīkǒu tōngshāng (一口通商) meaning "single [port] trading relations".

The Thirteen Factories at the center of the Canton System were referred to individually as hong and collectively as the cohong (公行) meaning "public trade".

The hubu (户部) or hoppo was the Qing official who oversaw the Canton System as Administrator of the Canton Customs or Yuèhǎi Guānbù (粵海關部).

On the European side, a key individual person dealing with the cohong would have been the supercargo of a ship.