Chinese Protectorate - The Coolie Trade

The Coolie Trade

Perhaps the most significant goal of the British colonial administration in the founding of the entity was to regulate and humanize the coolie trade and lessen the misery of the coolies, who were subject to merciless exploitation. First, coolie agents were required to register with Protectorate. Policing by the Chinese Protectorate freed up the labour market and firms (mainly British-run) seeking to hire Chinese workers no longer had to go through coolie brokers and secret societies. As a result of this improvement in conditions, the number of Chinese arrivals increased dramatically from the 1880s onwards.