Picture 1;We're on the river side of the island and looking across the island, which ends at the trees. Four buildings face the corner in the center of the picture. Asiatic Petroleum (a marketing company created in 1903 by Shell and Royal Dutch) is at the lower left of that corner. The greenish building across the street was the Yokohama Specie Bank. The building with the umbrella was HSBC; the fourth corner was occupied by Anderson, Mysner, an American firm.
                                         

Picture 2;Steps up from the Embankment. With heavy gates shut at night on the bridges, and with guards stationed there during the day to allow no Chinese to pass unless carrying a pass, Shamian was safe. Making light of the risks posed to Europeans by the unruly Chinese, Carl Crow wrote, "Zest rather than danger is added to residence there [on Shamian] by reason of the occasional disturbances in Canton." (The Traveler's Handbook of China, 1915, p. 369)

Picture 3;Lots of windows to catch some breeze: this is Pallonjee House, former HSBC staff quarters. The name Pallonjee is Parsee--Parsees had been early buyers of Shamian lots, which were first auctioned in 1861--and comes from Cowasjee Pallonjee & Company. It failed shortly after 1920,when HSBC moved in.

Picture 4;The street names in the colonial period couldn't have been simpler: in addition to Canal Street, where we've just looked around, there was Central Avenue--a tree-lined boulevard, shown here--and there was Front Avenue, now built up though originally lined on the riverside by parks. Come to think of it, they could have been simpler and now are: they've been renamed Shamian North Road, Shamian Main Street, and Shamian South Road.

Picture 5;Here's the British Bridge, built in 1861. Four decades later, the Reverend John Macgowan came by. He wrote of Shamian, "A narrow creek separates it fom the mainland, but not sufficiently to preserve it from all the offensive odours which seem to form part of Chinese national life. Small boats crowd this creek, for they have greater protection here from wind and tide. Beyond Shameen there is very little worth seeing in connection with the foreign residents at this port,no magnificent buildings or beautifully laid-out roads and drives." (Pictures of Southern China 1897, pp. 296 and 300)