Flower boats
Flower boats were floating brothels that operated primarily on the rivers and waterways of southern China from at least the eighteenth century into the early twentieth century. They were especially associated with Canton’s Pearl River and nearby anchorage at Whampoa, where they catered to Chinese patrons and foreign sailors during the Canton System. Contemporary images and later museum descriptions also refer to these vessels as "pleasure boats".
Terminology and setting
The euphemism “flower boat” was applied to elaborately decorated houseboats moored in designated stretches of river near Canton, sometimes in rows, where clients could dine, drink, hear music and purchase sexual services. 19-century photographs depict “rows of flower boats” on the Pearl River at Canton. Visual guides to the Canton trade also identify craft bearing flags such as "Heavenly Women" as flower boats catering to entertainment and sex.These boats are also named 花艇 and 花舫 , with variants such as 小艇, 四柱艇, 紫洞艇 and 紫洞花艇, operating in different stretches of the Pearl River around Canton. Qing- and Republican-era descriptions note two-deck “横楼” layouts with glass windows and imported lamps, lavish carved woodwork and gilded trim. Contemporary accounts by visitors likewise remarked that the river was “crowded with … 花艇 ” among other craft.
History
Scholarly reconstructions place the core period of Canton flower boats between roughly 1750 and 1930, with distinct mooring areas shifting over time according to local regulation and commercial pressures. At Whampoa, where foreign ships anchored during the trading season, floating brothels serviced crews and merchants and figured in local moral panics as well as policing campaigns. Catastrophic storms in 1908–1909 damaged many vessels and contributed to the decline of the trade, alongside changing public attitudes and Republican-era anti-prostitution efforts.Qing official Zhao Yi recorded that “广州珠江疍船不下七八千，皆以脂粉为生计,” illustrating the scale of boat-based sex work on the river in the eighteenth century. Later notes describe mooring shifts from 沙面 to 谷埠（今仁济路一带）再至南渡头, reflecting periodic relocation and contraction by the late Qing.
On the 9th day of the first lunar month in 1909, a conflagration at Dashatou destroyed 61 linked brothel boats with casualties approaching one thousand, accelerating the decline of large moored “flower boat” rows in central Guangzhou.
Chinese studies describe multideck boats with “白鸽笼” cabins, reception halls and kitchens, serving merchants, officials and literati; flower boats were also used to entertain foreign envoys and guests associated with the Thirteen Hongs, including an 1844 reception held aboard a flower boat for members of the French legation. Local press and photo-essays likewise document the Pearl River’s 花艇 culture into the early twentieth century.