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Wu Bingjian (; 17694 September 1843Hunt, Freeman; Dana, William B. (1844). The Merchants' Magazine and Commercial Review. Volume 10. p. 459.), trading as " Houqua" and better known in the West as " Howqua" or " Howqua II", was a hong merchant in the Thirteen Factories, head of the E-wo hong and leader of the Canton Cohong. He was once the richest man in the world. The Rich And How They Got That Way By Cynthia Crossen Publisher: Crown Publishing Group Pub. Date: 2000
After the Opium Wars, Howqua's familial and business lineage quickly diminished. In 1891, the American trading house that had been handling Howqua's international investments, Russell & Company, collapsed. The descendants of Howqua are now commoners. What had been a massive and beautiful estate for the Howqua family is now relatively unmarked in a poor neighborhood in the region of Honam Island.
The founders of then world-renowned firms including James Matheson, William Jardine, Samuel Russell and Abiel Abbot Low all had a close relationship with Howqua. Portraits of the pigtailed Howqua in his robes still hang in Salem and Newport mansions built by American merchants grateful for his assistance.
A settlement on the east bank of Lake Eildon, from Mansfield, in Victoria, Australia, is named after him, possibly by Chinese miners who passed through the area during the Victorian gold rush.
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