Chinese servants and cooks in the foreign factories in Canton on the eve of the First Opium War

On the eve of the First Opium War, a large number of Chinese people were employed to serve the foreigners who resided in the foreign factory district in Canton as servants and cooks despite the Qing government's strict regulations. Notwithstanding their humble origins in the local society, these servants and cooks had more chances of familiarizing themselves with various aspects of Western material cultures, be it costumes, cuisines, utensils, languages, and terminologies. Studying the lives and experiences of this group of people would allow us to adopt a bottom-up approach to the history of intercultural interactions.

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