Jointly presented by Guangdong Provincial Department of Culture, Guangzhou Municipal Cultural Bureau, Home Affairs Bureau of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao Special Administrative Region Government
Co-organized by Hong Kong Museum of History, Guangzhou Museum, Guangzhou Museum of Art, Guangdong Provincial Museum and Museum of Macao

Guangzhou, the staring point of the “Maritime Silk Route”, had linked China with the West and fostered their commercial and cultural contact for some 2000 years. The trading activities of Guangzhou came into its own in the Qin and Han dynasties, grew in importance in the Jin and the Southern and Northern dynasties period, and reached the peak of its development form the Tang to Qing dynasties. From 1757 to 1841, Guangzhou even served as the only port dealing with foreign trade. The extant Temple of the God of the Southern Sea, the Huaisheng Mosque, the Pazhou Pagoda and the Sacred Heart Cathedral bear witness to the history of Guangzhou as a port serving China's foreign trade.

Hong Kong and Macao, situated strategically near the Pearl River Estuary, guarded the waterway to Guangzhou and prospered in different periods. With the permission to stay in Macao since the mid-16th century, the Portuguese turned Macao into an entrepot by establishing a worldwide network of sea transportation that straddled the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia. The British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841 was followed by the implementation of a free-trade policy, which attracted a roomful of foreign hongs to shift their headquarters to Hong Kong. With the destruction of the Foreign Factories in Guangzhou in 1856, Hong Kong already surpassed Macao and Guangzhou as the major south China's entrepot.

Through some 160 items of cultural relics form Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, this exhibition attempts to unfold the extent of commercial and cultural contact between China and the West in different dynasties. By studying the design of export wares, the spread of Christianity, the introduction of scientific knowledge, the materialization of cultural ferment and the rise of a new intelligentsia, visitors will learn about the specific roles that the trio of Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Macau played in the history of Sino-Western exchanges.

Foreigner figure in yellow glaze Tang dynasty Height: 29.5cm Courtesy of the Guangzhou Museum Dish in fencai enamels Qianlong reign, Qing dynasty (1736-1795) Diameter: 20cm Courtesy of the Guangdong Provincial Museum