Flower boats

A Canton flower boat (a floating brothel) on the Pearl River, with men on deck and smaller boats alongside
Rows of flower boats on the Pearl River

Flower boats (Chinese: 花船; pinyin: huāchuán) were floating brothels on the Pearl River. Foreigners were not allowed access to them.

Flower boats did not function solely as brothels. The term "flower boat" often referred to an ornate barge.

References

  1. 1 2 Van Dyke, Paul A. (2020). "Floating Brothels and 'Unnatural Acts'". Whampoa and the Canton Trade: Life and Death in a Chinese Port, 1700–1842. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. doi:10.1515/9789882209893-014. ISBN 978-988-220989-3.
  2. ↑ Miles, Steven B. (2006). The Sea of Learning: Mobility and Identity in Nineteenth-Century Guangzhou. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Center. pp. 62–63. ISBN 0-674-02134-7. Retrieved July 6, 2026 – via Google Books.