As part of the 110th anniversary celebrations of Nanjing University, historians there led by Professor Chen Qianping, head of department, have mounted an exhibiton of 160 photographs selected from the Visualising China collections. The universities of Bristol and Nanjing have a long-standing good relationship, and we’re very happy to see these images on display in Nanjing.
Bishop William Banister and his wife Alice, Banister collection, Ba-s016
Visualising China’s collections are rich in materials from missionary families, including Bishop William Banister (1855-1928), of the Church Missionary Society, sometime Archdeacon at Hong Kong, and first Bishop of Kwangsi-Hunan; Canadian doctor Charles Coyne Elliott, of the China Inland Mission, who served in Sichuan, from early in the century until 1922, and Fred and Marjorie Cottrell, who worked for the Methodist Missionary Society in Yunnan Province, c.1925-51.
The International Missionary Photography Archive provides a portal into the holdings of a number of university archival holdings of missionary records across Europe and north America, and contains about ten thousand China photographs. Well worth adding as a bookmark.
History made this former Liaodong Peninsular fishing village a transational city, as it was taken from Russian control (1898-1905), to become a Japanese leased territory (1905-45), then a USSR-controlled zone in the People’s Republic of China until the end of the Soviet occupation in 1955. ‘One of the most rapidly growing and modern cities in the Far East’ wrote Carl Crow in his 1921 Handbook for China. Apparently, our British photographers did not find much of interest, focusing instead on either photographing the port’s impressive jetties, or the Russian buildings in the city streets.
Street in Dalian, 1923/4, Swire collection, Sw06-128
A scene from a theatrical performance, Armstrong collection, Ar02-070
This enigmatic photograph (Ar02-070) did not have a caption for it in the album owned by the Shanghai policeman William Armstrong (1867-1931, served SMP 1893-1927). It surely depicts a scene from a theatrical performance? Whilst the character with the fan discretely pours a drink for the soldier, who sits comfortably in a modern Western-style armchair, the gorgeously costumed performer seems to threaten to cut off his queue.
If this interpretation is about right, the photograph can be tentatively dated to the early Republic era, when queues were suddenly old fashioned. An amusing and stylish mise en scène of old and new China.
Juniors at Mr Large's school, c.1908, Elliott collection, El01-28
A class of solemn schoolchildren, c.1908, with, it is presumed, their missionary teacher, Mr Large, at the back of the room (El01-28). Both the foreign teacher and the children have their hair in the Manchu style. This hairstyle was imposed on the Han Chinese during the Qing dynasty and not abolished until the coming of the Republic in 1912. The hair on the front of the head was shaved off above the temples every ten days, and the rest of the hair braided into a long ponytail, or queue.
Woman smoking, Fu collection, fu-n616.
A self-conscious ‘modern’, not shy of the camera, and breaking several conventions. There is a series of shots of this woman, including the less provocative portrait below. We guess that the period is the 1920s rather than the 1930s, but are not sure.
Fu collection, fu-n605.
The flood damaged ‘Short Bridge’, Foochow, 1900, Oswald collection, Os-s091
Flooding in Foochow (Fuzhou) happened often enough. On night of 29th June 1900, the first arch of ‘The Short Bridge’ on Nantai was washed away – an event recorded in this photograph (Os-s091). Old Foochow was famous for its many hundreds of old bridges of various types, including the ‘Bridge of Ten Thousand Ages’, superbly photographed by G. Warren Swire (Sw13-135).
For damage to ‘The Long Bridge’ in 1900, see Os-s090 (with similar captioning, in the same hand as Os-s091). For the 1893 floods, see Os03-096. In fact, bridges were much favoured by photographers, and a word search for ‘bridge’ is productive.
Model Prison, Kweilin Fu, c.1900, Banister collection, Ba03-20
The caption in Bishop Banister’s photograph album for this photograph (Ba03-20) is: Model Prison. Kweilin Fu, Kwangsi. The prison is in the panopticon style, first designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham. The photograph dates from around the 1900s. It is remarkable for the contrast between the dramatic natural splendour of the famous Guilin karst outcrops and the grim human reality of a prison.
Chongqing, capital of Sichuan province is in the news at present. This photograph of a crowded narrow street there was taken in 1920 by British businessman Warren Swire. Many of our photographs of the city focus on the stunning, steep slopes and steps up to the city from the river, but here is a taste of the crowded streets.
A street in Chongqing, 1920, G.W. Swire collection, sw19-068.
S.S. Shu Tung on Yangtze River, Palmer collection, Pa01-10
The hazards and drama of steaming through rapids and gorges in the Yangtze River is evident in this picture (Pa01-10). The Shu Tung, built by Messrs. Thorneycroft and Co. in Britain in 1910, was a stalwart Upper Yangtze steamer, owned by the Szechuan Steam Navigation Co. The ship appears to have run aground.
