Category Archives: History of photography in China

Charles Frederick Moore’s photographs of the ruins of the European-style palaces (西洋楼) at the Yuanmingyuan (圆明园)

Posted on May 15, 2022 by Jamie Carstairs

Jamie Carstairs (Senior Digitisation Officer, Special Collections, University of Bristol Library) is researching the work of Charles Frederick Moore (1838-1916), and here discusses Moore’s photographs of the ruins of the European-style, baroque palaces at the Yuanmingyuan. When the vast and … Continue reading →

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Jamie Carstairs on Remembering John Thomson in Edinburgh

Posted on October 8, 2021 by Jamie Carstairs

Last week a plaque was unveiled on John Thomson’s childhood home in Edinburgh, Scotland, in his centenary year. How did it get there? In 2018, the John Thomson Commemoration Group* formed to restore John Thomson’s grave in south London. During … Continue reading →

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Guest post: Spaniards in the treaty ports: Archivo China-España and Juan Mencarini

Posted on June 25, 2020 by Guest

Our latest post comes from Xavier Ortells-Nicolau, an adjunct professor at the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures and English Studies, Universitat de Barcelona. His recent work has focused on images of China in late nineteenth and early twentieth century … Continue reading →

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A Chan (Ya Zhen) in Guangzhou

Posted on April 29, 2020 by Helena F. S. Lopes

This nice view of a commercial street in Guangzhou (Canton), that has been on the Historical Photographs of China website for a while, has been identified as the work of A Chan (雅真 Ya Zhen), an early Chinese photographer who … Continue reading →

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The John Gurney Fry Collection: tea, silver and chocolates

Posted on April 20, 2020 by Jamie Carstairs

Jamie Carstairs, who manages the Historical Photographs of China Project, writes about a collection just added to the HPC site. Last year, an album of 124 photographs  was generously donated by Richard Ambrose to the Historical Photographs of China project, care of … Continue reading →

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Commemorating John Thomson: Edinburgh to install a Bronze Plaque

Posted on February 28, 2020 by Jamie Carstairs

Jamie Carstairs, who manages the Historical Photographs of China Project, nominated John Thomson for a plaque in Edinburgh. The independent plaques panel at Heritage Environment Scotland (HES) announced yesterday that a plaque to commemorate the Scottish photographer John Thomson (1837-1921), is … Continue reading →

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Charles Frederick Moore (1837-1916), a photographer in China

Posted on December 5, 2019 by Jamie Carstairs

Jamie Carstairs, who manages the Historical Photographs of China Project, follows up  serendipitous events, leading to a rabbit hole, in which a ‘new’ nineteenth century China photographer was found. ‘Mr. C. F. Moore, in the service of the Customs at Ningpo, … Continue reading →

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Restored – the grave of pioneering travel photographer John Thomson

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Jamie Carstairs

Jamie Carstairs, who manages the Historical Photographs of China Project, reports on the tribute to the photographer John Thomson FRGS, whose grave has now been restored. John Thomson (1837-1921) is acclaimed in Martin Parr and Gerry Badger’s The Photobook: A History … Continue reading →

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Reversing Robert Capa’s gaze: Wuhan, 1938

Posted on January 11, 2019 by Robert Bickers

Ooo, look: our eagle-eyed Project Manager Jamie Carstairs spotted this wonderful photograph taken in 1938 by Robert Capa in Hankou (Wuhan) and recently published in MAGNUM China (Colin Pantall and Zheng Ziyu, eds, Thames & Hudson, 2018): This is one of … Continue reading →

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In and outside the combat zone: The Regimental Museums Project (2)

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Andrew Hillier

Dr Andrew Hillier completes his introduction to The Regimental Museums Project by discussing some of the more nuanced aspects of military photography and the importance of regimental archives. Aside from Felix Beato’s photographs of the Second Opium War, referred to … Continue reading →

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