Hong Kong 1861-62

Submitted by david leffman on Tue, 10/18/2011 - 22:15
Hi all
I'm writing a history/travel book, following a fairly obscure adventurer in 19C China, who visited HK briefly 1861-62. As the Opium Wars and their aftermath had a major influence on this chap's life, I'm keen to use HK to establish the historic scenery for the rest of the book.

Any idea of where I could find period maps, photos, pictures and, of course, surviving monuments - or lack of them (ho ho ho) - would all be immensely helpful. And does anyone know about the contemporary salt trade? I've spent some time in HK over the years and can help myself to a certain extent, but would appreciate anyone else's input.

I live in the UK now but will be back in HK for two weeks in the last half of November.

Hi David,

For Maps & Photos, there are some resources listed here. Also try the National Archive at Kew, who definitely have information from that time.

Monuments: You could look for gravestones from those years. Search for the year on this page.

Salt trade: It would be worth searching the old newspapers for mentions of salt. The RASHK Journal for 2009 had a long article 'The price and consumption of salt in China in 1901'. Not sure how relevant that would be, but could give background info.

Please let us know if you find anything interesting,

Regards, David