Tai-pan

A tai-pan (Chinese: ; pinyin: , literally 'top class', or 'big shot') is a senior business executive or entrepreneur operating in China or Hong Kong.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, tai-pans were foreign-born businessmen who headed large Hong trading houses such as Jardine, Matheson & Co. and Dent & Co. amongst others.

The first recorded use of the term in English is in the Canton Register of 28 October 1834. Historical variant spellings include taepan (first appearance), typan, and taipan. The term gained wide currency outside China after the publication of Somerset Maugham's 1922 short story "The Taipan" and James Clavell's 1966 novel Tai-Pan.

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