Further to my earlier posts on this topic (in association with the Merthyr Tydfil section of "Guardian Angel") there is an interesting blog post here:
http://upsetvictorians.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-true-origin-of-china-nickname-for.html
It provides some interesting new info about the origin of the "China" name.
Anthony Rhys says: Most recently Joe England's excellent new book 'Merthyr: The Crucible of Modern Wales', says: 'Where the name China came from is unknown but it probably came from an imaginative journalist who saw the district as mysterious and dangerous. From the early 1840's Britain was involved in 'Opium Wars' with China.' Keith Strange says as the Victorians became aware of the real country's 'strange culture and customs' they named another 'alien' society, namely Merthyr's underworld, after the same thing.
However, the new suggestion by Anthony Rhys is that the name came from an enthusiastic but unsuccessful Wesleyan "mission". The Pontystorehouse hotbed of crime and prostitution was so notorious in the 1840's and 1850's that there were major campaigns by upright citizens to alert the inhabitants of the troglodite community as to the error of their ways, and to listen to the word of the Lord. One of the leaders of this movement, one Walter Watkins, was a staunch Methodist and teetotaller, who frequently preached fiery sermons at the arch which led into the area of old slag heaps and ash dumps called "The Cellars". He was known as "Father Watkins" -- and he previously owned the Canton Tea house on Marthyr's High Street. He was a strict advocate of temperence, and preached that people should drink tea rather than alcohol. At that time tea was probably too expensive to be drunk by the prostitutes and bullies of the target community -- but all the tea for sale at that time came from China.
Walter Watkins eventually gave up on his campaign in despair, but as a joke the Cellars were re-named "Little China" 1843 and eventually became just "China", with the most powerful man in the locality taking the title of the Celestial Emperor. At one time the Emperor was Benjamin Richards, alias Benny Blackstone, who was just 28 years old. But the name I have built into the "Guardian Angel" episode was John Wylde, as a result of information gathered from Keith Strange's book.
However, the new suggestion by Anthony Rhys is that the name came from an enthusiastic but unsuccessful Wesleyan "mission". The Pontystorehouse hotbed of crime and prostitution was so notorious in the 1840's and 1850's that there were major campaigns by upright citizens to alert the inhabitants of the troglodite community as to the error of their ways, and to listen to the word of the Lord. One of the leaders of this movement, one Walter Watkins, was a staunch Methodist and teetotaller, who frequently preached fiery sermons at the arch which led into the area of old slag heaps and ash dumps called "The Cellars". He was known as "Father Watkins" -- and he previously owned the Canton Tea house on Marthyr's High Street. He was a strict advocate of temperence, and preached that people should drink tea rather than alcohol. At that time tea was probably too expensive to be drunk by the prostitutes and bullies of the target community -- but all the tea for sale at that time came from China.
Walter Watkins eventually gave up on his campaign in despair, but as a joke the Cellars were re-named "Little China" 1843 and eventually became just "China", with the most powerful man in the locality taking the title of the Celestial Emperor. At one time the Emperor was Benjamin Richards, alias Benny Blackstone, who was just 28 years old. But the name I have built into the "Guardian Angel" episode was John Wylde, as a result of information gathered from Keith Strange's book.
I can well imagine that over a period of twenty years or more, there were crimninal power struggles within the Celestial Empire, as a result of which Emperors came and went with alarming frequency. After 1850, conditions seem to have improved, and crime reduced, as indicated in Olivia Marsh's dissertation.
See also:
Olivia Marsh dissertation:
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