The Third Anglo-Burmese War culminated in the annexation of Upper Burma by the British on 1 January 1886. Chinese communities had existed for many centuries in rural Burma and were largely formed by migrants travelling overland from China into Burma along the north-eastern trade routes.

The urban Chinese population originated during the colonial era when Chinese from the coastal provinces of China came by sea to work as merchants; among other professions. The Chinese quarter in Mandalay was near the King's Bazaar; on the south side of B Road. A caption by Hooper accompanying the photograph describes the shop:

'It is not perhaps a very inviting looking place; nevertheless the bread made in Mandalay is exceedingly good. Bread is much eaten by the Burmese; besides various kinds of cakes and chupatties; a sort of pancake or girdlecake: the man on the left is making one of these while the other man is tending the pot over the furnace'.