重溯珠江水道

 

這是一組關於歷史空間的考古攝影，靈感來自一套清代鴉片戰爭前的通草畫《澳門至廣州水途即景》。畫中描繪了從澳門至廣州內河航道沿岸的塔樓、寺廟、農田與聚落，展現了當時珠江水網上的沿途風景。十九世紀前，廣州是中國唯一的對外通商口岸，而澳門則是唯一允許外國人居住之地。在陸路交通不便的年代，這兩座城市由珠江河網的內外兩條主要水道相連道。  

 

內河航道蜿蜒約160公里，穿越香山與順德。十九世紀時，這條水道是少數能讓外國商人窺見中國南方風土人情的路徑之一。他們乘船而來，記錄沿途所見，將嶺南的水鄉景致帶入全球的想象。

 

外河航道全長約130公里，是當年繁忙的貿易通道，也是鴉片戰爭前夕的衝突前線。廣州與澳門的海域曾見證走私、戰火，最終催生了海禁的瓦解，也改變了南中國的商業版圖。

 

為了更深入理解這段歷史，我參考了大量地方文獻與地圖資料，並將其中的圖像記憶與當代風景進行比對。許多歷史建築已難覓蹤跡，取而代之的是現代橋樑、高塔與城市標誌，成為當代視野中的新地景。這個拍攝並非對過往的還原或複製，而是一種基於圖像與行走的觀察方式，嘗試理解空間如何隨歷史變遷而發生移動與重構，並思考地方在全球歷史中的位置與變化。

 

 

Retracing the Waterways: A Journey Through the Pearl River Delta

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This photographic series is photographic archaeology return to a historical landscape, inspired by a set of pre-Opium War waterway paintings. These images depict pagodas, temples, farmlands, and settlements along the river route between Macao and Canton, capturing a world shaped by waterborne movement and layered encounters.  Before the 19th century, Guangzhou was China’s only open trading port, and Macau was the only place where foreigners were allowed to reside. In an era when land routes were inconvenient, the two cities were connected by two primary waterways—the West Passage and the East Passage.

 

The West Passage, stretching approximately 160 km, wound through Xiangshan and Shunde. In the 19th century, this was one of the few routes through which foreign merchants could glimpse the landscapes and daily life of southern China. Traveling by boat, they documented what they saw, leaving behind rare visual and written records of a world largely unknown to the West.

 

The East Passage, about 130 km long, was the artery of trade and transport. It also became a battlefield for opium smuggling conflicts, culminating in the First Opium War. After the war, the lifting of trade restrictions and the rise of Hong Kong shifted the economic centre away from the Guangzhou-Macau axis.

 

In order to better understand this layered history, I consulted a wide range of local records and cartographic materials, and juxtaposed archival visual references with present-day landscapes. Many of the historical landmarks have disappeared, replaced by modern bridges, towers, and infrastructure that now mark the contemporary water routes. Waterways is not an attempt to reconstruct the past, but rather a way of observing how space shifts over time, and how landscapes—when revisited—can offer insight into the evolving relationship between locality and global history.

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