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"The Ships"

featuring
 

- The China Trade -
 
 

 "Of all the different trades,- in which a seaman can be engaged-,the most interesting and by far the most rewarding, is for sure the Far East trade".

Karsten Petersen , - Sailor and Traveller.

 

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Chinese Junks
This is the sight that the first European exploreres and traders
must have seen when they approached the China coast  - - -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen)






  The first westeners that opened trade with China were the  Portuguese, which set up a base in  Macau  in 1557 and thereby became the first Europeans to settle on the China coast.

  Of course my pictures shown here, are not from the sixteenth century, but actually photographed outside Tsingtao in 1973!
However,- it could just as well have been from 1557, since the  Chinese junk has not changed appeareance for centuries.

  When I sailed on the China Coast, this was a very common sight  way into the first half of the seventies.
As a matter of fact we could sometimes count 30 - 40 junks around us,- and none of them had engines, and they came in all sizes,- even  with four masts.
 
 



Chinese Junk
- outside Tsingtao, China, 1973 -
(Photography by Karsten Petersen)
 
 

Click here for many more pictures of  "Chinese Junks"
 
 

Click for more about the China trade:
 

1)   As seen from  My China Room
 
 

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Updated:  June 15th.2003
                May 12.2005
               Jan.11.2007
 
 
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