This is a Pearl River version of the painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival, depicting the scenery in the mid-19th century on the north bank of the Pearl River from the 13 Hongs in Guangzhou Shamian Island to Dutch Folly Fort, and then to the Dongshui Fort near Dashatou.

This is General View of Guangzhou City. It is like a hand-drawn photograph that vividly captures the appearance of Guangzhou 13 Hongs during the specific historical period. We can see a group of buildings in 13 Hongs, after the fire during the Opium War in 1840, were in a state of disrepair.

Above the buildings, there were only a few flags of foreign firms. During this period, we can also see the bustling scene of Guangzhou Port with many boats where commerce flourished. About three to four hundred boats floated on the water, from the Guangdong Red-head Boats for ocean trade, ferries with passengers, merchant ships selling flowers, rice, salt and more, to mostly the Dan Jia houseboats for fishermen to live in.

Boats gathered on the Pearl River, making the place just like the Venice of the East. This painting is from Youqua's studio, a famous export painter from Guangzhou. You may wonder what does the "qua" mean in his name? Actually, it is closely related to a Portuguese word "quadro" at that time.

When foreigners see "qua" in the sign of a store, they know that the store sells export paintings. At that time, there were also many export painters in Guangzhou as famous as Youqua, including Lamqua, Tingqua and Sunqua, etc.

Foreigners who come to Guangzhou for trade and tourism all like to buy export paintings to bring the local customs of Guangzhou back to their families in distant places.

During this period, many Chinese painters integrated Western painting techniques and materials to create works with a Chinese style as perceived by westerners, and such works are known as export paintings.

In 1757, the Canton System policy made Guangzhou an important city in the global trade network and trade flourished as never before.

General View of Guangzhou City is one of them. It is the only large-scale oil painting in China for export and fairly rare around the world. The painting was collected by the Guangdong Museum in 2008, representing the highest level of Chinese oil painting in the mid-19th century.

这是一幅珠江版的“清明上河图”，描绘的是19世纪中期广州珠江北岸，从沙面十三行商馆到海珠炮台，再到大沙头（附近）的东水炮台一带广阔的风光。

这件作品名为《广州港全景图》，它就像一幅“手绘照片”，清晰地定格了广州十三行特定历史时期的面貌。我们可以看到画面中十三行的建筑群，正处在1840年鸦片战争大火后百废待兴的状态。

建筑上空悬挂着外国商馆旗帜也只有零星的几面。我们还可以看到这个时候广州港帆樯云集、商贸繁盛的景象。三四百艘船只漂浮在水面上,有从事远洋贸易的广东红头船，还有载客的渡船，还有卖花、卖米、卖盐等等的商船，更多的是水上人家生活的疍家船。

它们聚集在珠江水面上，就像东方的“水上威尼斯”一样。这幅画出自广州著名的外销画家“煜呱”的画室。大家可能觉得奇怪，这个“呱”是什么意思呢？其实这个“呱”是和当时葡萄牙语词“quadro”这个单词有密切关系的。

外国人一看见带“qua”的招牌，就知道这个店里面从事的是洋画生意。当时和煜呱齐名的，还有很多广州知名的外销画家，比如还有林呱、庭呱，还有顺呱等。

来广州进行贸易还有旅游的外国人，他们都喜欢购买外销画，把广州的风土人情打包带给远方的家人。

1757年，“一口通商”政策使得广州成为了世界贸易网络的重要节点，贸易空前繁荣。

在这一阶段，许多中国画家融汇了西方的绘画技法和材料，绘制西方人眼中的“中国风”作品，这就是外销画。

《广州港全景图》便是其中之一。这一巨幅外销油画国际罕见，国内唯一，于2008年征集入藏广东省博物馆，代表着19世纪中叶中国油画的最高水准。

出品人丨杜传贵 林海利
策划丨孙爱群 陈桥生
监制丨邓琼 蒋铮 吴小攀
统筹丨朱绍杰 易芝娜 付怡
执行丨文艺 周欣怡
翻译丨白心怡