The A - Z of Tea:

C is for Canton

A  B  C D

C is for Canton – link to a map

Canton is the old name for what is now Guangzhou (on a map) – the major trading City in south-west China.

In the 19th century Canton was, for a time, the only Chinese city where foreign firms could establish trading offices. The three way trade shipping opium from India to China, and taking tea and other products back to Europe was very lucrative for those involved and lasted for many decades.

The Opium ships in Lintin, China 1824

Canton’s dominant position was overtaken when the British established the uninhabited island of Hong Kong as their preferred trading post.

However, in the 20th century Canton re-emerged as the gateway for foreign trade with China as the host for the Guanhzhou Trade Fair (Canton Trade Fair) which was in the 1970s and 1980s as important for doing business with Chinese tea exporters as the 19th Century ‘foreign enclave’ had been

Treading tea in boxes – Cantonese school early 19th century

D is for?