Another mystery picture | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

Another mystery picture

Another mystery picture
Submitted by anonymous-01
Tags: 
John Olson

Here is a final mystery. I presume it is from Macau but if it wakes up any memories I would appreciate it. Sorry for the quality.

Date picture taken (may be approximate): 
Sunday, January 1, 1860
Gallery: 
1860s Hong Kong photos
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Comments

Submitted by philk on Thu, 2010-03-25 08:55.

but it looks a lot like the one on this postcard, which is described as being between Canton and Whampoa (i.e. Guangzhou and Huang Pu as they are known today). Huang Pu is a district of Guangzhou further down the river. It's possible this was taken as they sailed up the river towards Gaungzhou.

http://www.ignca.nic.in/images/rar30/big/bsl49405.jpg

Submitted by David on Thu, 2010-03-25 10:03.

I agree with Phil. I think it was mentioned in the exhibition 'The ultimate South China Travel Guide - Canton',  which runs til this Sunday at the HK Art Museum.

There are a couple of pagodas on the approach to Canton (old picture). The one in Sean's photo looks more like Chigang pagoda (then, now) than Pazhou pagoda (then, now).

As an aside, a couple of the photos above come from 'Historic Guangzhou in Antique Pictures', which is like a mini gwulo.com for Guangzhou, and worth a look.

Submitted by anonymous-01 on Thu, 2010-03-25 19:28.

Thanks philk and David.

Looks to me you are right and that this is heading up to Canton. At the risk of being boring this seems to add a new dimension to my great grandfather's journey.

1:This picture is part of a set which were together in the early part of the family collection of pictures and are clearly much older than the rest. They now all turn out to be Macau or the Canton area.

2: My great grandfather sailed as ship's cook on a ship named Ocean from Karlshamn, Sweden to Lisbon in 1858 to pick up salt according to records there. I assume he left/jumped ship in Lisbon and got a berth on a ship bound for Macau or the East.

3: I had assumed he jumped ship in HK and blagged his way into the pub business then and know from records he got a licence in 1866.

4: It now looks as if he went to Macau, maybe to Canton, and thence got to HK.

It is supposition but the pagoda picture looks like a sail by or at anchor shot.

Interestingly by the time he died the family had homes in Canton and Shanghi. Does this add anything to his possible career as an opium dealer David?

The final mystery is how he brought his two brothers out from Sweden to join him. His brother Olof was in Sweden until 1867 and his youngest brother was there until 1869. That is in Swedish tax records and they never lie! What Anders - the younger brother did I don't know but Olof certainly worked for my great grandfather as manager of the National Tavern. I wonder if John 1 was off purveying more noxious substances!

All comment, speculation, fact is very welcome. Thanks for all the help.

Submitted by moddsey on Fri, 2010-03-26 08:42.

Scenes of Whampoa,Hong Kong, Macau etc:

http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/rise_fall_canton_04/gallery_place...

Submitted by annelisec on Fri, 2010-03-26 08:55.

More speculation ...

If he was interested in racing horses, then Shanghai was the place to be.

Google "shanghai horse racing chater mody sassoon" to while away many hours and get glimpse of why the 3 days at Chinese New Year when the races were run here in Hong Kong were a mere shadow of the much more important Shanghai races. 

Submitted by indieorientalis on Sat, 2010-05-15 13:51.

1840 Steel Engraving Canton Pagoda, Pearl River

This is an original steelplate engraving C1840, a view of a Chinese Pagoda, between Canton and Whampoa.

Submitted by anonymous-01 on Mon, 2010-05-17 18:51.

Thanks again indiaorientalis. What wonderful records. Again the final proof.

Regards,

Sean