Chungqua's premises seen from the portico of the East India Company's 'factory' at Guangzhou (Canton)
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From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
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From the collection of Victoria and Albert Museum
You see a busy trading square in 1820s Guangzhou. A row of Chinese buildings, called "hongs," lines the edge. One roof stands out—it belongs to Chungqua’s hong. The drawing shows how the East India Company kept tight control. Only foreign traders got in. Chungqua’s hong would later lose its roof when he lost his money in the 1830s. Check out the whitewashed walls and curved roofs in person at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
