Coolie, Hong Kong.

Number 14 in a set of 25 cigarette cards entitled 'Picturesque People of the Empire' issued by Ogden's branch of the Imperial Tobacco Co. Ltd. There is a picture on one side with an inscription reading 'Coolie, Hong Kong', and a description on the other side. The text on the reverse reads: 'The Crown Colony of Hong Kong consists of the island of Hong Kong proper (which is about eleven miles in length) together with the opposite peninsula of Kowloon. It is a centre of British commerce with China and Japan, and an important naval station. The population includes some ¾ million Chinese of all classes, from the wealthy silk merchants and shrewd shopkeepers to the servants and porters who are hewers of wood and drawers of water for the cosmopolitan inhabitants of Hong Kong. In this far Eastern port the coolies do much of the heavy haulage which elsewhere is done by horses.'

Collection Information

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