Situated on the shore of the South China Sea, Canton has been the geographical hub of the Maritime Silk Road for over two thousand years. After the Age of Discovery in 15th century, the trading areas of Canton expanded from the Indian Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. From 1757 to 1840, the Canton System made this city one of the centers of world trades. During this period, Canton was at both the heart of the trades and the front of cultural interactions between the East and the West. As a result of this context, a golden age came for various Canton arts and crafts.

Take the examples of Canton painted enamels and export fans. Under the background of the sea trade, there were active interactions between Canton, the Imperial Workshops and the export arts and crafts. The craft of painted enamels was introduced by French missionaries first into Canton and then to the Court. The Canton Customs thus manufactured the painted enamels according to the orders from the Imperial Workshops, which drove the development of the craft of Canton painted enamels. As a result of this improvement, the Canton painted enamel products were in turn sold in great amount to Europe and America. The export fans, however, took another path. Since the very early period the folding fans have been popular and made the tributes to the Court. From the mid-18th century, the folding fans were exported from Canton. The great scale of this exportation hit heavily at the fan manufactures of Britain and France. For one thing, many of Canton export fans were customized in order to carter to the foreign markets. Therefore the designs on the fans reflected a Western influence. For another, European fan manufactures were also deeply affected by Canton export fans. There were European fans which had sticks and guards produced in Canton while leaves processed in Europe. There were also fan designs that were influenced by the Chinoiserie style in vogue. The above examples showed that Canton and the arts and crafts in this city have become the frontier of technological and cultural interactions of the East and the West.

Dr. Huang Haiyan accomplished her Ph.D. program from the Department of History of Sun Yat-Sen University, China. Her Ph.D. thesis focused on the urban-rural relationships of Ming and Qing dynasties through an investigation into the ancestral halls established by the clans with the same surname in the south-east coast of China during that period. Recent years, her interest has shifted to the arts and crafts of Guangdong of Ming and Qing dynasties. Basing on the studies of the collection of Guangdong Folk Arts Museum, she is dedicated to the topics concerning the developments of Canton arts and crafts under the background of East-West trades and cultural interactions and curated many special exhibitions.