This gallery contains 32 photos.
In 1858, Japan signed the Harris Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States of America. The Treaty Port Era had begun for the Land of the Rising Sun. Five ports were forced open … Continue reading
This gallery contains 20 photos.
From the Korean Peninsula, we hop on a ship over to the islands of Japan, the Land of the Rising Sun; to the very first treaty port in Japan – and quite likely the oldest colonial port city anywhere in Asia, … Continue reading
This gallery contains 13 photos.
Past Peking, we leave China proper and enter the realms of Imperial Japan. In this new year, our Grand Tour will take us first to 2 former Japanese colonial treaty ports (exploring how Japan itself became an imperial and colonial … Continue reading
This gallery contains 9 photos.
Of all the cities on this Grand Tour of the Far East, Tientsin (spelled Tianjin in pinyin) is my favourite by far, for three reasons. First – unlike any other treaty port in China, Korea or Japan, Tientsin consists of 8 … Continue reading
This gallery contains 13 photos.
Tsingtao (known as “Qingdao” today) is a rarity in the history of colonialism – in that it was a German colony. The Germans came late in the colonial game (in the 1890s); and they established a scattering of colonies in … Continue reading
This gallery contains 37 photos.
Behind the Hankow Bund lies a wealth of Concession-era architecture, surprisingly well-preserved and many still functioning as their (close-to-) original purpose. As per the Bund, the documentation is poor and many of the buildings are not marked out; even if … Continue reading
This gallery contains 37 photos.
When it comes to poster-boys for colonial architecture in Mainland China, two places come to mind. The first is, naturally, Shanghai and the iconic Shanghai Bund (which features next month). The second, which may come as a bit of a surprise … Continue reading
This gallery contains 7 photos.
Of all the port cities on the Grand Tour, Canton – situated at a strategic location on the Pearl River – is by far the greatest and the most ancient, having been mentioned as a major port since the Tang … Continue reading
This gallery contains 9 photos.
One of the greatest legends in Macau’s history and hospitality scene is that of the former Bela Vista Hotel – the inimitable Grande Dame of the colony, handed back to the Portuguese in 1999 and presently the Residence of the … Continue reading
This gallery contains 11 photos.
Hong Kong is a “city spectacular,” in all the vainglorious, multifarious meanings, implications, etymologies (and so on) associated with the term – to wit: city, spectacle, spectator, spectacular (adj.), spectacular (noun). Let me explain. From the very moment that band … Continue reading
Dream Of A City 