In 1856 Wirgman set off from London to the Far East as official illustrator and reporter for The Illustrated London News with the intention of covering the deteriorating international relations between Britain and China. He reached Hong Kong in 1859 where he based himself, making several expeditions into China and a visit to the Philippines. During these years he filed reports to The Illustrated London News, many of which were reproduced. A folio of over a hundred drawings of this period was sold for HK$ 13 million at Christie's Swire, Autumn 1989. See Watercolours and Drawings, Autumn 1989, Colin Sheaf, Go East Young Man, Charles Wirgman (1832-1891), pp.29-30. After spending four years based in Hong Kong he travelled north to Japan where he remained for the rest of his life, witnessing the opening up of the country to Westerners at the beginning of the Meiji era. In 1862 he founded The Japanese Punch which featured clever caricatures of local characters, many of which are in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He continued to work sporadically for The Illustrated London News until 1887. It was only by the mid 1870's that Wirgman became confident working in oils. An exhibition of his work marking the centenary of his death was held at the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum and the Kobe Municipal Museum, Japan, 29 September - 24 December, 1990. The exhibition included other oils of the same view. For comparison see colour pl.221 in the catalogue.