The Port : Ha Tien and the Mo Clan in Early Modern Asia

At the crossroads of China and Southeast Asia, The Port (present-day Hà Tiên), under the autonomous rule of the Chinese creole Mo clan, prospered as a free-trade emporium during the eighteenth century. Its remarkable story sheds fresh light on a transitional period in maritime East Asian history.

The Port (present-day Hà Tiên), situated in the Mekong River Delta and Gulf of Siam littoral, was founded and governed by the Chinese creole Mo clan during the eighteenth century and prospered as a free-trade emporium in maritime East Asia. Mo Jiu and his son, Mo Tianci, maintained an independent polity through ambiguous and simultaneous allegiances to the Cochinchinese regime of southern Vietnam, Cambodia, Siam, and the Dutch East India Company. A shared value system was forged among their multiethnic and multi-confessional residents via elite Chinese culture, facilitating closer business ties to Qing China. The story of this remarkable settlement sheds light on a transitional period in East Asian history, when the dominance of the Chinese state, merchants, and immigrants gave way to firmer state boundaries in mainland Southeast Asia and Western dominance on the seas.