Tag Archives: labour

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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