The compradores were the right-hand men of the taipans, and the taipans were the heads of the companies. The featured image above is a poster of the film Tai-pan, adapted from James Clavell’s 1966 novel of the same title. The novel is set after the conclusion of the First Opium War (1839–1842). The Treaty of …
A unique social class that emerged in the context of China trade was the compradores. Their education, manner, and lifestyle truly embraced the spirits of what they did – the “middlemen”. In order to excel in the business world, they stood between the Chinese and the Westerners hoping to find common grounds to achieve commercial …
As China opened up its market for foreign trade, the flow of people, money, ideas, and technologies from around the world expanded exponentially. The signing of the Treaty of Nanking (1842) after the First Opium War (1839-1842) meant enormous opportunities for investment in China. Trade was no longer restricted to Canton, new ports like Shanghai …
The foreignness of people and things often results in curiosity, suspicion, and hostility. Such feelings are sometimes reflected in language as people may create terms to call certain groups of people. Hong Kong is no exception. Cantonese also has terms to call specific ethnicities, for example, 「阿aa3差caa1」and 「摩mo1羅lo1差caa1」refer to the South Asians;「㗎gaa4仔zai2」and「㗎gaa4妹mui1」 are the Japanese. …
To the Hokkien-speaking Chinese, the term 紅hung4毛mou4 is familiar as it is traditionally used to refer to the Dutch and later Europeans. Hokkien (福fuk1建gin6話waa2) is spoken mainly in the Fujian (福fuk1建gin6) province of the south of China. As the province faces the South China Sea, Hokkien people are skilled seafarers and are significant diaspora groups …
Previously, we saw a postcard posted from Honolulu to Hong Kong dated 1888 (see 3. Chin-chin). As shown below, the beginning of the message was a usual note to tell the recipient of the sender’s safe passage. What is more informative is the return journey to Hong Kong. “According to promise I pen you a …
Hawaiʻi comprises a group of islands located in the central Pacific Ocean. The state capital and the largest city, Honolulu, is on O‘ahu. It is believed that the earliest inhabitants were Polynesian settlers from the Marquesas Islands. The first contact between Hawaiians and Europeans occurred in 1778. That year the British explorer Captain James Cook …
Courtesy is important in social interactions. Therefore, the first Chinese Pidgin English expression introduced here is chin-chin, an expression of salutation. The featured postcard travelled from Honolulu, Hawai‘i to Hong Kong in 1888. The sender correctly showed us how the word was used then. “Chin Chin to all old acquaintances” Chin is derived from the …
Postcards are the most representative type of printed ephemera. When the idea of writing a message on a card without an envelope was proposed, people were suspicious of this new mode of communication. For example, one of the concerns was privacy as messages were not covered. The practice of pre-paying the postage for postcards was …