The Opium Wars and the Cantonese Tanka Boat People

Failed to add items

Sorry, we are unable to add the item because your shopping cart is already at capacity.

Add to basket failed.

Please try again later

Add to wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Remove from wishlist failed.

Please try again later

Adding to library failed

Please try again

Follow podcast failed

Unfollow podcast failed

The Opium Wars and the Cantonese Tanka Boat People

Listen for free

View show details

They were the invisible workforce of the Pearl River Delta—the Tanka boat people, a marginalized community that lived on junks and sampans, never setting foot on land. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how the Tanka became the backbone of the opium trade, smuggling raw opium from Lintin Island to the Canton factories and distributing it upriver. We trace their origins as a semi-nomadic fishing people, their exclusion from the Qing civil service exams, and their unique status as outcasts tolerated only for their labor. The conversation covers the Tanka women who rowed the 'flower boats,' the Red Boats that evaded patrols, and how the British and American merchants relied on Tanka pilots and divers. We also examine the Tanka role in the Battle of Chuenpi, where their fire rafts nearly destroyed HMS Nemesis, and how the opium trade transformed their community—some grew rich, others were scapegoated. A rarely told story of the people at the waterline of history. #Tanka #BoatPeople #OpiumWars #Canton #PearlRiverDelta #LintinIsland #HMSNemesis #Chuenpi #QingDynasty #DaoguangEmperor #LinZexu #JardineMatheson #Sycee #Cohong #Howqua #Smuggling #MaritimeHistory #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo

No reviews yet