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Join us for the launch of our new exhibition curated by Iris Yau 丘靜雯 FRSA FHEA (University of the Arts London) on British trade (including trade wars) with China in the nineteenth century. The exhibition will showcase some of our key historic books on voyages to China as well as objects from the Silk Museum Macclesfield and Bolton Library and Museum Services illustrating the trade in silk, opium and tea.

From descriptions of botany, the stealing of plant samples and trade secrets in silk manufacture to descriptions of China and people in East Asia, Infamous explores a key and difficult period in the relationship between the two nations. This exhibition considers the influence of the industrial revolution and the trading power of Manchester in the often violent struggle to access the markets in China. Infamous considers why tea, opium and silk were so lucrative and important to the expansion of the British Empire and the factories in Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire. We will also display a curated selection of lantern slides of missionary activity in China that we know little about. This gives a visual window into the role of missionaries, many of whom worked against the opium trade.

We are working in partnership with the Silk Museum, Macclesfield, to highlight the importance of silk to the identity of the town and displaying samples from their collection. In addition, Bolton Library and Museum Services are lending us an opium pipe and related paraphernalia from their collection for display. We will visually reference the large collection related to opium at the Manchester Museum, University of Manchester, in their botany collection. This exhibition will draw attention to the infamous trade of opium and the importance of it to our taste for, and production of, tea and silk as well as collection of porcelain and other products.

Logo: Bolton Library and Museum Services

Logo: Silk Museum Macclesfield