Monthly Archives: March 2012

Metropole Hotel, Shanghai, 1930 上海新城饭店老照片

This photograph (BS-s11) of the Metropole Hotel under construction, is from the British Steel Archive Project, in Teesside, from whence came the girders for the building’s steel frame.  The Metropole was designed by Palmer and Turner, and was built on … Continue reading

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B is for … Bubbling Well Road, Shanghai 上海南京西路老照片

The Bubbling Well Road was the road to the ‘Bubbling Well’, to Jing’an Temple, an extension of the Nanjing Road, known to Chinese residents as the ‘Dama lu’ 大马路’. Early residents of what became the International Settlement used to walk … Continue reading

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Photographs of photographers: Warren Swire

Photographs of photographers with their cameras are not often found in their own albums of photographs.   So it was good to find a snap of Warren Swire with an unidentified woman wearing jodhpurs, taken by Ann Phipps (ph04-045).   Ann was … Continue reading

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This month in history, 1927: Shanghai 上海浙江路老照片

In mid-late March 1927 the force of the Guomindang’s National Revolutionary Army moved into the city of Shanghai. Communist insurrections had already taken place, but the forces of a regional militarist, Sun Chuanfang (孙传芳), including units of refugee Russian soldiers, … Continue reading

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A is for … Antung (Dandong) 丹东市老照片

Warren Swire made a handful of visits to this port at the mouth of Yalu River between 1911-12 and 1934. The border with Korea, then under Japanese control was close by. This shot shows the installation at the harbourside of … Continue reading

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A City Gate

The location of the above gateway to a city remains unconfirmed.  The photograph (Pe01-013) is a puzzle: it shows what looks like a body of men, some with queues, in uniform, but without weapons, going towards and through the gate.  … Continue reading

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You press the button, we do the rest

Here then is ‘the rest’: at this Kodak Professional School in Shanghai in 1923, students are learning to spool and process negatives, enlarge, develop, fix and dry prints, then guillotine and dry mount them – the skilful practical application of … Continue reading

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Patches for a Canton panorama

Many thanks to all contributors to Visualising China, including the astute person who pointing out that the location recorded for UB01-14 (http://visualisingchina.net/#hpc-ub01-14), below, was not quite accurate: Canton (Guangzhou) yes, Shamian Island no. The relevant image entry details have now … Continue reading

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At the theatre, Weihaiwei, c.1901

This is one of a number of images that we have of theatrical performances in China. It was probably taken by R.M.C. Ruxton, who was variously in the British ‘Weihaiwei’ or First Chinese Regiment, the Salt Gabelle (the Chinese state … Continue reading

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More moderns, in Tianjin

A group shot probably taken by Customs officer, Briton Reginald F.C. Hedgeland, in 1905 in the northern port city of Tianjin. (Perhaps that is his uniform cap, balanced on the wooden frame on the right). Unusually well-educated for the Customs … Continue reading

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