Visualizing language contact
About
This website is about travel and contact.
Travel: to move from one place to another.
Contact: two people or things touch each other.
These two seemingly different activities can produce interwining effects on social structure, culture, language, etc. We will explore how separation from our own cultures and meeting new cultures result in the creation of new modes of communication.
latest articles
Water covers approximately 70% of the surface of the globe, which means that the lives of a large number...
The Age of Discovery, from the 15th to 17th century, created unprecedented opportunities for people of...
In 1784, the first merchant ship of the newly established United States of America – Empress of China...
Located at the Pearl River (珠江) (Cantonese: zyu1 gong1, Mandarin: zhujiang) in south China, Canton...
For most of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the early period of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), China...
Although the Ming dynasty of China (1368–1644) shut the door on establishing foreign relations in the...
It is often acknowledged that Jorge Álvares was the first Portuguese to have landed in China. In 1513,...
The featured image is the receipt from a shop in Penang for an order of rock sugar. Rock sugar 冰糖 (Cantonese:...
When Granville Sharp (1824–1899) arrived in India, he joined the Commercial Bank of India. On 2 November...
After the landing of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in Calicut (now Kozhikode), India in 1498...
The early 20th century was the golden era of postcards. Not only did travelers buy postcards as souvenirs,...
The modern world is not unfamiliar with different types of mixing – mix-and-match in fashion, crossover...
An aspect of Chinese lives that Western writers of the 19th and 20th century often described was gambling....
The third day of the Chinese New Year is also known as 赤口 (Cantonese: cek3 hou2). Traditionally, it is...
Situated in southern China, the Pearl River (Zhujiang 珠江) is the third longest river in China. Life and...
“Hong Kong prospère sous le signe de la cumshaw et le sourire des sing-song girls” (Hong Kong thrives...
The Victoria Harbour has been a well-known attraction of Hong Kong. The skyline of the Hong Kong side,...
Not having a chance to feel the “spicy breezes” of Ceylon? Maskee, try Singapore – a country that is...
Before tea became the main industry of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), it was that attraction of spices that...
In 2017, milk tea was declared as an item of “intangible cultural heritage” of Hong Kong. Hong Kong-style...
Tea has become one of the popular beverages in Europe since the 17th century. Even coffee houses sold...
The English East India Company (EIC), also known as the “Governor and Company of Merchants in London,...
The postcard above was sent in 1907 from Singapore to the Custom House of Shanghai via Hong Kong. The...
Someone who is “on active service” participates in military action as a member of the armed force, like...
A quick reminder of the various meanings of “Chop” – a seal, a stamp, a trademark, a permit, an order,...
Before we travel to a different place, one of the first things we do is to check up on the currencies...
Strolling along the narrow streets in Canton city in the olden days, the first thing that caught your...
Titled “A coolie of Hongkong”, this postcard presented an unusually stylish and calm posture of a coolie....
At the back of the photo above was written “Frank Arthur & servants. 3 years old!” Have you ever...
Compiled by Henry Yule and Arthur Coke Burnell, the Hobson-Jobson Being a Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial...
Yang-king-pang 洋涇浜 (Yangjingbang in Chinese Pinyin) used to be a tributary of the Huangppu River in Shanghai....
This advertisement for a porcelain shop was printed in a travel guide A Pictorial Handbook to Canton...
The image above is a poster of the film Tai-pan, adapted from James Clavell’s 1966 novel of the same...
A unique class developed under the context of China trade, the compradores truly embraced the spirits...
The signing of the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 after the end of the First Opium War (1839-1842) resulted...
In Hong Kong, Caucasian men are known as gweilo (鬼佬 gwaai2 lou2) literally ‘ghost man’. Caucasians women...
The Portuguese gained rights to settle and trade in Macau in 1557. The Dutch, a constant rivalry of the...
The image shows a cover celebrating the 150th anniversary (1789-1939) of Hawaiʻi and Chinese interaction.
For...
Hawaiʻi is made up of a group of islands located in the central Pacific Ocean. The state capital and...
This postcard was sent from Honolulu, Hawai‘i to Hong Kong in 1888. The writer, Phillips, told the recipient...
When the idea of writing message on a card without an envelope was first proposed, people were quite...