Asian port cities in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were the site of intensive cultural contact involving a broad spectrum of participants from across the world. These interactions raised questions of communication for those who conducted business in the port cities, and issues of regulation and control for those who governed them. By drawing comparisons among the Asian port cities where European East India Companies maintained trading centers, this volume goes beyond national histories to examine cultural interactions on a regional basis. The authors build on the rich literature relating to cross-cultural interactions between the Dutch and the Japanese in Nagasaki by developing comparisons among Asian port cities that look at buildings, verbal communication, mercantile transactions, dispute settlement, family issues, as well as clothing, shelter, and social relations associated with food, they provide an alternative interpretation of historical events.