Moonlight bathes Hong Kong's Praya as the steamer Kinshan departs for Canton. Kinshan(850 tons old measure) was built by Roosevelt and Joice in New York and shipped to China in the downeaster, W. B. Palmer in March of 1863. Augustine Heard and Co. assembled her at Whampoa where she went into service between Hong Kong and Canton until she was bought by the Hong Kong, Canton and Macao Steamboat Co. and under whose flag she operated on the Pearl River until 1882. With the advent of steam engines on the high seas, the heyday of the glorious clippers soon came to an end. Originally the Kinshan was typical of the American Riverboats of the day, with two stacks and boilers mounted on the guards ahead of the paddle wheels. Later she underwent considerable modification and her boilers were placed inside the hull with only one stack. In the background of the painting is the steamboat Fire Dart, built in America in 1859 and sailed to China in Nov. of 1860.

In the foreground of the painting three sailors are in conversation with two girls on the sampan, while behind them a Chinese lady in a rickshaw of high birth looks on with disapproval. Many sampans and junks found the Praya a convenient place to tie up. However the typhoons that visited Hong Kong did considerable damage to boats and ships that stayed too long.

Price on Request