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Age of sail: the lorcha
The Age of Discovery, from the 15th to 17th century, created unprecedented opportunities for people of different cultures to interact. Curiosity, wealth,...
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The longitude: east and west
In 1784, the first merchant ship of the newly established United States of America – Empress of China – set sail from New York to Canton (Guangzhou) of...
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Canton: Shap Pat Pu 十八甫
Located at the Pearl River  (珠江) (Cantonese: zyu1 gong1, Mandarin: zhujiang) in south China, Canton 廣州 (currently romanized as Guangzhou) has been...
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Canton: a language was born
For most of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) and the early period of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912), China adopted a series of policies collectively referred...
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Macau: Cidade do Nome de Deus
Although the Ming dynasty of China (1368–1644) shut the door on establishing foreign relations in the 16th century, informal exchanges, particularly private...
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Sancian Island: from deus to joss
It is often acknowledged that Jorge Álvares was the first Portuguese to have landed in China. In 1513, his ships arrived in a place known as Tamão, whose...
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Malaya: picul and godown
The featured image is the receipt from a shop in Penang for an order of rock sugar. Rock sugar 冰糖 (Cantonese: bing1 tong4) is a kind of crystalized sugar...
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India: Tiffin
When Granville Sharp (1824–1899) arrived in India, he joined the Commercial Bank of India. On 2 November 1858, he married Matilda Lincolne Sharp (1829–1893)...
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India: chitty, chit
After the landing of the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in Calicut (now Kozhikode), India in 1498 and upon his return to Lisbon with news of future...
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Portugal, where the voyage began
The early 20th century was the golden era of postcards. Not only did travelers buy postcards as souvenirs, but strangers also exchanged postcards in order...
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Doing justice to pidgin English
The modern world is not unfamiliar with different types of mixing – mix-and-match in fashion, crossover in music, fusion in food… you name it. However,...
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Fan-tan
An aspect of Chinese lives that Western writers of the 19th and 20th century often described was gambling. During his service in Singapore, J.D. Vaughan...
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Mahjong
The third day of the Chinese New Year is also known as 赤口 (Cantonese: cek3 hou2). Traditionally, it is believed that quarrelling will easily occur on this...
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Sing-song & flower boats
Situated in southern China, the Pearl River (Zhujiang 珠江) is the third longest river in China. Life and customs along the river were so enchanting that...
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Cumsha(w)
 “Hong Kong prospère sous le signe de la cumshaw et le sourire des sing-song girls” (Hong Kong thrives under the sign of the cumshaw and the smile of the...
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Kismas chop chop come
The Victoria Harbour has been a well-known attraction of Hong Kong. The skyline of the Hong Kong side, from past to present, is an everlasting motif of...
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Maskee
Not having a chance to feel the “spicy breezes” of Ceylon? Maskee, try Singapore – a country that is also full of diversity and spicy food. Four official...
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Spicy breezes
Before tea became the main industry of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), it was that attraction of spices that drove the Portuguese and Dutch to occupy the island....
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Ceylon 西冷
In 2017, milk tea was declared as an item of “intangible cultural heritage” of Hong Kong. Hong Kong-style milk tea (港式奶茶 gong2 sik1 naai5 caa4) is a tea...
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茶 ‘tea’
Tea has become one of the popular beverages in Europe since the 17th century. Even coffee houses sold tea from China. The trade card above was produced...
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公司(一): The Company
The English East India Company (EIC), also known as the “Governor and Company of Merchants in London, trading into the East Indies,” was founded on 31...
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Custom House & Hoppo
The postcard above was sent in 1907 from Singapore to the Custom House of Shanghai via Hong Kong. The Custom House, called 江海北關 in Chinese, in operation...
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Chop-chop & man-man
Someone who is “on active service” participates in military action as a member of the armed force, like the sender of the above mail. The sender must have...
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First chop & No. 1
A quick reminder of the various meanings of “Chop” – a seal, a stamp, a trademark, a permit, an order, or an official document. The word could also combine...
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Chop
Kopi is a popular drink in Singapore and Malaysia. However, visitors may find it mind-blowing when it comes to ordering the drink because there are different...
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Tael, mace, candareen
Before we travel to a different place, one of the first things we do is to check up on the currencies of our destinations. Today, this can be done quickly...
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Shroff
Strolling along the narrow streets in Canton city in the olden days, the first thing that caught your attention must be the signboards hanging outside...
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Coolie
Titled “A coolie of Hongkong”, this postcard presented an unusually stylish and calm posture of a coolie. The sender of the postcard explained the coolie’s...
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Boy
“Boy, go catchee two piecey tea.” ­­– This is perhaps the best way to describe this photograph. The Chinese man standing in the middle, though looked...
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Amah
The letter above, dated 1973, was sent from Macau to Canada. At the end of the letter, Christine told the recipient that: “Since my Amah left after 15...
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Memsahibs and servants
At the back of the photo above was written “Frank Arthur & servants. 3 years old!” Have you ever wondered who these Indians were? To answer this question,...
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Joss
In the last article chin-chin joss, it has been mentioned that joss (or josh) was a form derived from Portuguese deus meaning ‘God’. In the pidgin spoken...
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Chin-chin joss
Compiled by Henry Yule and Arthur Coke Burnell, the Hobson-Jobson Being a Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Words and Phrases and of Kindred Terms (first...
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Yang-king-pang 洋涇浜
Yang-king-pang 洋涇浜 (Yangjingbang in Chinese Pinyin) used to be a tributary of the Huangppu River in Shanghai. It was a narrow creek that separated the...
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Factory/Hong 行
This advertisement for a porcelain shop was printed in a travel guide A Pictorial Handbook to Canton (1905). The “Factory” was an interesting place back...
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Taipan 大班
The image above is a poster of the film Tai-pan, adapted from James Clavell’s 1966 novel of the same title. The novel was set after the conclusion of the...
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Comprador soup 金必多湯
A unique class developed under the context of China trade, the compradores truly embraced the spirits of “middlemen”. They stood between the foreigners...
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Compradore 買辦
The signing of the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 after the end of the First Opium War (1839-1842) resulted in the opening of more treaty ports for foreign...
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Foreign devil
In Hong Kong, Caucasian men are known as gweilo (鬼佬 gwaai2 lou2) literally ‘ghost man’. Caucasians women are called gweimui (鬼妹 gwaai2 mui1)or gweipo (鬼婆...
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Red Haired 紅毛
The Portuguese gained rights to settle and trade in Macau in 1557. The Dutch, a constant rivalry of the Portuguese, attempted to invade Macau in 1622....
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Pākē in Hawai‘i
The image shows a cover celebrating the 150th anniversary (1789-1939) of Hawaiʻi and Chinese interaction.  For the past 200 years, Chinese has become...
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Hawaiian and English in contact
Hawaiʻi is made up of a group of islands located in the central Pacific Ocean. The state capital and the largest city, Honolulu, is situated on O‘ahu....
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Chin-chin
This postcard was sent from Honolulu, Hawai‘i to Hong Kong in 1888. The writer, Phillips, told the recipient that he had safely arrived in Honolulu. The...
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The Postcard craze
When the idea of writing message on a card without an envelope was first proposed, people were quite suspicious of this kind of communication. There were...