"[W]e are in the mouth of the Wenchow River," said the author [Dorothea Hosie] in a page before this image. Below the image, Dorothea stated "Venice in China. 'Along the banks of a canal not yet bricked over, we went...'"  See Dorothea Soothill Hosie, Brave New China (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1938).