hoppo

• Hoppo

Uncertain, although probably an irregular romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 戶部／户部 (Hùbù), the imperial government's Board of Revenue which oversaw customs and other taxation during the Qing Dynasty. In reference to its agents, a clipping of earlier hoppo-man.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈhɒpəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈhɑpoʊ/

hoppo (countable and uncountable, plural hoppos or hoppoes)

1. (historical, archaic, sometimes capitalized) The imperial Chinese board of revenue, especially its branch in Guangzhou during the Qing Dynasty.
   • c. 1808, William Hickey, Memoirs of a Georgian Rake, page 108:

     On the way two Chinese buildings were pointed out to us as hoppo, of custom-houses, at both which all boats […] are obliged to stop and undergo a strict search or examination by a petty mandarin.

   • 1836, Anders Ljungstedt, An Historical Sketch of the Portuguese Settlements in China..., page 86:

     Hoppo. This is a tribunal, that has in charge the collecting of imperial dues on navigation and trade, and remitting the amount to the Grand-hoppo at Canton...

2. (historical, archaic) An imperial Chinese customs officer, especially (sometimes capitalized) the chief customs officer for the South China Sea based in Guangzhou during the Qing Dynasty.
   • 1711, Charles Lockyer, An Account of the Trade in India..., page 101:

     The Hoppos, who look on Europe Ships as a great branch of their Profits, will give you all the fair Words imaginable.

   • 1814, James Wathen, Journal of a Voyage in 1811 and 1812 to Madras and China..., page xvi:

     ...received a most polite invitation from the late Mr. William Parry, a supercargo, to meet the Hoppo (or principal custom-house officer)...

   • 1836, Anders Ljungstedt, An Historical Sketch of the Portuguese Settlements in China..., pages 86–90:

     Hoppo. This is a tribunal, that has in charge the collecting of imperial dues on navigation and trade, and remitting the amount to the Grand-hoppo at Canton... at Macao, the Portuguese designate him by the epithet Grand-hoppo, in contradistinction to another... [T]he Hoppo of Macao... levies on foreigners, coming and going, an arbitrary tax on their persons and baggage. He is assisted by compradors, pilots and others...

   • 1882, William C. Hunter, The ‘Fan Kwae’ at Canton before Treaty Days..., page 36:

     The ‘Hoppo’ (as he was incorrectly styled) filled an office especially created for the foreign trade at Canton... The Board of Revenue is in Chinese ‘Hoo-poo’, and the office was locally misapplied to the officer in question.

• “hoppo, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2020.
• Hotton, John Camden. The Slang Dictionary, 1873.