Tai-pan  A tai-pan (, literally 'top class') 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., Swire and Dent & Co. amongst others. The first recorded use of the term in English is in the "Canton Register" of 28October 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". The term was used to describe the protagonist's family in " Empire of the Sun".