Page 28 - THE SOUTH CHINA BUSINESS JOURNAL
P. 28
SCOVERY
ALEXANDER EVERETT
COMMISSIONER AND UNITED
STATES AMBASSADOR TO CHINA,
1846
By Yuxi (Eric) Chen Alexander Everett
Engraving by Jordan and Halpin
Today, hardly any traces of the foreign
merchants, sailors, and missionaries who James Potter, an American sailor, was buried in
arrived in Guangzhou in 1846 can be found. the first column of the first row. The inscription
But if one happens to visit Changzhou Island on the tombstone says, “In Memory of James
in Huangpu District of Guangzhou City and Potter, Keeper of Lifesaving Apparatuses for the
walks up the Zhugang mountain, he or she Empress, Passed Away in a Bar on August 31st,
may come across the foreigner’s cemetery and 1784, Age 22.” From the inscriptions, the story is
find weather beaten tombstones with barely able to reconstruct itself: The Empress arrived
visible inscriptions offering a small window at Whampoa port on August 28th, 1784. Sadly,
into the past.
The cemetery is located deep within the col of
Zhugang mountain and dates back 240 years.
It is divided into three neat rows in a gradually
elevating manner, with twenty-nine tombs
covering nearly 400 square meters. All the tombs
are made of white marble and positioned to face
the Pearl River, which runs into the South China
Sea. The entire cemetery is enshrouded by newly
sprouted bamboo shoots and wild vines. With
hardly any maintenance, the cemetery radiates
unshakable desolation.
Most tombs belong to merchants, sailors, or
foreign officials who arrived and passed away in
Guangzhou, hence buried on foreign soil. One
section of the cemetery is located on the hilltop
on Zhugang Mountain, with a height of more
than fifty meters. According to available data,
between 1770 to 1878 some 400 foreign nationals
were buried on the mountain, These foreigners
hailed from many countries, including Great
Britain, the United States, Spain, Sweden, East
India and Bangladesh. At the time, locals referred
to the mountain as “The Fan Kwae Mountain”
25 AMCHAM SOUTH CHINA
ALEXANDER EVERETT
COMMISSIONER AND UNITED
STATES AMBASSADOR TO CHINA,
1846
By Yuxi (Eric) Chen Alexander Everett
Engraving by Jordan and Halpin
Today, hardly any traces of the foreign
merchants, sailors, and missionaries who James Potter, an American sailor, was buried in
arrived in Guangzhou in 1846 can be found. the first column of the first row. The inscription
But if one happens to visit Changzhou Island on the tombstone says, “In Memory of James
in Huangpu District of Guangzhou City and Potter, Keeper of Lifesaving Apparatuses for the
walks up the Zhugang mountain, he or she Empress, Passed Away in a Bar on August 31st,
may come across the foreigner’s cemetery and 1784, Age 22.” From the inscriptions, the story is
find weather beaten tombstones with barely able to reconstruct itself: The Empress arrived
visible inscriptions offering a small window at Whampoa port on August 28th, 1784. Sadly,
into the past.
The cemetery is located deep within the col of
Zhugang mountain and dates back 240 years.
It is divided into three neat rows in a gradually
elevating manner, with twenty-nine tombs
covering nearly 400 square meters. All the tombs
are made of white marble and positioned to face
the Pearl River, which runs into the South China
Sea. The entire cemetery is enshrouded by newly
sprouted bamboo shoots and wild vines. With
hardly any maintenance, the cemetery radiates
unshakable desolation.
Most tombs belong to merchants, sailors, or
foreign officials who arrived and passed away in
Guangzhou, hence buried on foreign soil. One
section of the cemetery is located on the hilltop
on Zhugang Mountain, with a height of more
than fifty meters. According to available data,
between 1770 to 1878 some 400 foreign nationals
were buried on the mountain, These foreigners
hailed from many countries, including Great
Britain, the United States, Spain, Sweden, East
India and Bangladesh. At the time, locals referred
to the mountain as “The Fan Kwae Mountain”
25 AMCHAM SOUTH CHINA
