ARTISTIC INCLUSION OF THE EAST AND WEST Rare and beautifull Scroll painting on paper representing Tianfu (Chengdu Sichuan district) commercial street. Many of the painters of these China trade art were Western artists who came to China in the 18th and 19th century to trade or to tour. During their travels, they churned out many drawings, watercolours and oil paintings depicting scenes of the daily life and landscape they encountered. After returning to their home countries, some reproduced their works in various types of prints, and it was through their ‘travelogues' that China, the Middle Kingdom at the heart of the exotic Far East, was introduced to the Western world. Foreign traders and artists brought Western painting techniques with them to China, which several native Chinese artists took the time to master. Cannily spotting an opportunity, they set up art studios in Canton and Hong Kong where they mass-produced genre scenes of treaty ports, portraits and still lifes, which were then sold to foreign tradesmen as souvenirs. China trade paintings found a huge market at that time, but with the growing popularity of photography in the late 19th century, they lost their pre-eminent place and eventually became part of the history that they were themselves intended to portray. Extra shipping care