Infamous is a new exhibition at The Portico Library, curated by Iris Yau 丘靜雯 FRSA FHEA with the support of Dr Debbie Challis and Apapat Jai-in Glynn.
“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,” says the Portico.
“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.
“The exhibition 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.”