Crossing the Poyang Lake, late 18th century

Porcelain from Jingdezhen is being shipped through Poyang Lake then the Gan River to Nanchang where it leaves the water to be carried over land by porters across the Meiling Pass, the border between Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces. A storm is raging, two boatmen are needed to hold the rudder and two others are steering it away from the rocks with long poles. The merchant watches anxiously from inside the cabin.