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residence of factors or agents, and not because anything was manufactured there. Built and owned by the merchants charged with the conduct of foreign trade, they were let out to the foreign merchant houses, and comprised a series of 13 hongs placed side by side of each other, which formed a terrace fronting the river.15 (Plate 4) Each Hong consisted of a series of buildings placed one behind the other from the river backwards, for a depth of from 550 to 600 feet to the first street running parallel to the river.15
Spread over 21 acres, the factory grounds and buildings were rented from the Chinese merchants charged with the conduct of the foreign trade. They impressed visitors, especially in contrast with their proximity to 'low, dingy Chinese houses on the one hand, and the densely populated river on the other', and as another newcomer put it, 'sparkling like diamonds in a heap of old rubbish'." (See Plate).
Like the Old China Trade itself, the Factories are long gone. They did not survive the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Chinese War in 1856 (the so-called "Arrow War," after the vessel which became the casus belli) when they were destroyed by fire on the orders of the Chinese authorities. However, they have been immortalized in the many pictorial representations that have come down to us of the sights and scenes of Old Canton.
These are known collectively as "China Trade Pictures" because they were objects of trade, painted to order for the foreign merchants and ships' crews connected with the trade. The earliest panoramas date from the mid-eighteenth century, and from them we can trace the Factories' architectural history, notably the re-buildings that followed periodic disasters, such as the fires of 1822 and 1842.18
19
A salient fact is that most of these paintings are by Chinese, sometimes associated with a particular school of professional painters and sometimes unidentified. Such works were in the Western style, meant to suit Western tastes. Traditional Chinese style "views" were, of course, very different.
Honam
Part of Honam Island, on the south side of the Pearl River, opposite
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residence of factors or agents, and not because anything was manufactured there. Built and owned by the merchants charged with the conduct of foreign trade, they were let out to the foreign merchant houses, and comprised a series of 13 hongs placed side by side of each other, which formed a terrace fronting the river. 15 (Plate 4) Each Hong consisted of a series of buildings placed one behind the other from the river backwards, for a depth of from 550 to 600 feet to the first street running parallel to the river. 15
Spread over 21 acres, the factory grounds and buildings were rented from the Chinese merchants charged with the conduct of the foreign trade. They impressed visitors, especially in contrast with their proximity to 'low, dingy Chinese houses on the one hand, and the densely populated river on the other', and as another newcomer put it, 'sparkling like diamonds in a heap of old rubbish'." (See Plate ).
Like the Old China Trade itself, the Factories are long gone. They did not survive the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Chinese War in 1856 (the so-called "Arrow War," after the vessel which became the casus belli) when they were destroyed by fire on the orders of the Chinese authorities. However, they have been immortalized in the many pictorial representations that have come down to us of the sights and scenes of Old Canton.
These are known collectively as "China Trade Pictures" because they were objects of trade, painted to order for the foreign merchants and ships' crews connected with the trade. The earliest panoramas date from the mid-eighteenth century, and from them we can trace the Factories' architectural history, notably the re-buildings that followed periodic disasters, such as the fires of 1822 and 1842. 18
19
A salient fact is that most of these paintings are by Chinese, sometimes associated with a particular school of professional painters and sometimes unidentified. Such works were in the Western style, meant to suit Western tastes. Traditional Chinese style "views" were, of course, very different.
Honam
Part of Honam Island, on the south side of the Pearl River, opposite
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