Whampoa Anchorage taken from Dane’s Island; and Macau from Penha Hill

Macau and Whampoa were important stopping points on the busy trade route from the West to Canton. Western ships were not permitted to sail up to Canton itself, and would drop anchor at Whampoa (Huangpu), about a dozen miles away, where customs would be paid and goods transferred into smaller 'chop boats' to be taken up to Canton. Many of the ships are depicted with their topmasts lowered, which facilitated repair work while stationed at Whampoa.

Cantonese trade regulations dictated that western merchants could not remain in Canton outside of the winter trading season; rather than embark on the long journey home, many chose to spend the rest of the year in Macau, some eighty miles away down the Pearl River. Although the majority of its population were Chinese, the Portuguese had been allowed to settle in Macau in the 1550s and it played host to a thriving community of western merchants and their families.