Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c5.s3.t3.3

v1.c5.s3.t3.3

The company was founded in 1842 by Seth Ebrahim Noordin, a member of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community from Bombay. Dawoodi Bohras from Gujarat have played a significant role in the overseas trade from western India to the Persian Gulf and East Africa as well as to various ports in East and Southeast Asia. Initially trading in cotton, silk, opium and tea, the company has over the decades expanded and diversified into many other areas. It was one of the companies whose opium stocks were confiscated just prior to the Opium War, which received compensation for it in 1864. The AEG began the first cross-harbour ferry service between Tsim Sha Tsui and Central in Hong Kong in 1842. In the same year, it opened offices in Canton and Shanghai. In Shanghai, its office was located on the Shanghai Bund. Although they vacated that office following the revolution, they reopened it in 2004. Since then, they have opened branch offices in Shenzhen and Dalian as well.