On September 27th, the exhibition "Encountering Whang Tong: Canton Trade, Botanical Paintings and Cultural Exchange in the 18th-19th Century" officially opened to the public at the Guangzhou Maritime Museum. The protagonist of the exhibition, Whang Tong, was an assistant who worked for foreigners in the Guangzhou Thirteen Hongs over 200 years ago. Unlike ordinary assistant, Whang Tong was not only proficient in English but had also traveled to the UK, leaving behind a trail of stories.

In 2021, the book "Encountering Whang Tong: Little People and the Big World in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Pearl River Estuary", written by Chinese scholar May Bo Ching, brought Whang Tong's story back to Chinese readers. After meticulous research by scholars like May Bo Ching from around the world, the narrative of this little person has finally returned to Guangzhou and is now presented to his "hometown" at the PearlRiver through a physical exhibition.

9月27日，展览“遇见黄东：一个清代广州‘事仔’的大世界”在广州海事博物馆正式面向公众开放。展览主人公黄东，是一名两百多年前在广州十三行为洋人打工的小厮，粤语又叫“事仔”。不同于普通“事仔”，黄东不仅精通英文，还曾漂洋过海在英国留下不少足迹与故事。

2021年，中国学者程美宝所著《遇见黄东：18-19世纪珠江口的小人物与大世界》一书让黄东再现中文世界。史海茫茫，经过以程美宝为代表的海内外学者的爬梳，这个小人物的故事终于回到广州，并以实物展览的方式呈现给他珠江口的“故乡”。

翻译|蔡燕娣

审校|罗洁

终审|程敏苏