Photograph of Canton, now Guangzhou, with buildings of European settlement, the Shamian, along the bank of the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River): large mansions and villas, including consulate and spire of English church; sampan boat in foreground.

This is a photograph from one of the nine albums compiled following Prince Albert Victor (1864-92) and Prince George of Wales' (1865-1936) world tour aboard HMS Bacchante from 1879 to 1882. The photographs were collected by their chaperon and tutor, John Neale Dalton.

The majority of the images in these albums are topographical views and architectural studies, loosely arranged according to the group’s itinerary. They include photographs of artefacts, local people and public figures, as well as portraits of the princes taken during the tour. The attempt to recreate the experience of a journey through such an assortment of images is common to many amateur travelling albums of this period. In 1886, some of the photographs in the albums were reproduced as engravings in the published accounts of the voyage, 'The Cruise of Her Majesty's Ship Bacchante, 1879-1882'.