Tag Archives: labour

Work and movement in the Hong Kong photographs of Dr Eleanor Whitworth Mitchell

Dr Helena F. S. Lopes is Senior Research Associate in the History of Hong Kong and a Lecturer in Modern Chinese History at the University of Bristol. She holds a DPhil in History from the University of Oxford. Dr Eleanor … Continue reading

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Moving a block of ice over frozen water

Ice was cut during the winter in North China from ponds and rivers, and then stored in ice houses for cooling uses over the summer months. This photo (Ru02-34), with its curiously stagey composition (note that man peeping from behind … Continue reading

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Silk filature or factory, Shanghai, c.1900

A filature was an establishment for reeling silk from cocoons.  There were many such factories in Shanghai and they must have employed several hundred children. Silk was of course a luxury item for the wealthy, and much exported.  This sobering … Continue reading

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