Shopping in Canton

EVENT DESCRIPTION

Ever since the Qing government opened up Chinese ports for foreign trade in 1685, many merchants have travelled to Canton (Guangzhou). In 1757, the Qing government ordered the closure of all other trading ports, confining foreign trade to Canton for easier administration. In the 80 years until the end of the Opium War in 1842, Canton was the only Chinese port that was accessible to foreigners. Foreign merchants were obliged to remain in the Thirteen Factories, a district outside the city walls to the southwest of the Canton city and were only permitted to travel outside on designated days of each month, in the company of a linguist.

For foreigners who did not know much Chinese and were restricted to live in the factories, shopping became their daily pastime besides being part of their job as traders. The streets of shops in the neighbourhood offered a wide array of merchandises, from crafts and curiosities, tea leaves, to many other local products, food and drinks, appealing to the needs and wants of the foreign travellers.

In addition to the selected collections from the Hong Kong Museum of Art, this exhibition also features a wide range of China trade art collections from other local public and private collections. Drawing a great deal of references from the travelogues by the foreigners visiting the region at that time, the gallery will be enlivened by an interactive shopping street reminiscent of old Canton, inviting visitors to embark on a window-shopping tour down the lane of art and history!

The exhibition would not have been possible without the support of Muwen Tang, The K. L. Leung Collection, Sze Yuan Tang (Mr A J Hardy), Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong Maritime Museum, and Mr Chris Hall. We would like to express our gratitude to them for entrusting us with their valuable collections.