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Recent Posts
- Guest blog: Yutong Wang on Policing urban ‘nuisance’: slum clearances in ‘semi-colonial’ Shanghai in the 1930s
- Some that got away
- Guest blog: Alex Thompson on British Law and Governance in Treaty Port China
- Guest blog: Andrew Hillier on Armistice Day and its Aftermath in Treaty Port China
- Guest blog: Kaori Abe on the Abe Naoko Collection –– a glimpse of a Japanese family’s life in Shanghai, c.1927-c.1934
- Guest blog: Ghassan Moazzin on Foreign Banks and Global Finance in Modern China
- Guest blog: Helena Lopes on A connected place: Macau in the Second World War
- Andrew Hillier on Bessie Pirkis: A Renaissance Woman in Peking Part 2
- Guest blog: Rachel Meller on Uncovering the story of Shanghai’s Second World War Jewish refugees
- Andrew Hillier on Bessie Pirkis: A Renaissance Woman in Peking
- Need and opportunity: the new HPC website
- Everything’s changed, but everything’s still the same: HPC update
- Location/Dislocation – Admiral Keppel, the Chinese Buddha at Sandringham and three key photographs
- The Forbidden City at War: Images of the Wartime Evacuation of the Imperial Art Collections
- A name, a photograph, and a history of global connections
Categories
Author Archives: Jamie Carstairs
The British Episcopal Church en fête, Foochow
Here is the interior of the British Episcopal Church in Foochow (Fuzhou), decorated with Union Jack flags and a banner ‘GOD SAVE THE KING’. Directly above the alter is another banner that reads: ‘From among thy brethren shalt thou set … Continue reading
Posted in Photograph of the day
Tagged celebration, church, decoration, fan, flag, Fuzhou, Oswald, religion
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Photos within photos
This photograph (Fu-n548), a study in pairs, was taken by Fu Bingchang on New Year’s Day 1946, in the Chinese Embassy in Moscow. It depicts an unidentified Chinese official and, on the right, Chiang Ching-kuo. Jiang Jingguo, was the son … Continue reading
Posted in Photograph of the day
Tagged Chiang, Embassy, Fu, furniture, Kaishek, Moscow, photograph
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Examination cells and brain cells
Inexorably the exam season is upon us, a testing time for students, and also for admin staff and markers. Spare a thought for candidates in the examination system in Imperial China – applicants would think, write, eat and sleep, sometimes … Continue reading
Posted in Photograph of the day
Tagged administration, bureaucracy, Canton, cell, Confucianism, exam, examination, government, Guangzhou, hall, state
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A scene from a theatrical performance
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 … Continue reading
Juniors at Mr Large's school, c.1908
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 … Continue reading
The flood-damaged 'Short Bridge', Foochow, 1900
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 … Continue reading
Posted in Photograph of the day
Tagged bridge, damage, floods, Fuzhou, house, Oswald, spectators
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Model Prison, Kweilin Fu, c.1900
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 … Continue reading
Posted in Photograph of the day
Tagged architecture, Banister, crime, Guilin, incarceration, justice, karst, panopticon, punishment, topology
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S.S. Shu Tung on Yangtze River
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 … Continue reading
Sun Ke reading on a wooden chaise longue
Sun Ke (Sun Fo) (1891-1973), was a Nationalist politician and, briefly, in 1932, Premier of the Republic of China, as well as an educational reformer. He was the son of Sun Yat-sen. In this informal portrait (Fu-n119) by Fu Bingchang, … Continue reading
Posted in Photograph of the day
Tagged book, Foo, Fu, furniture, leisure, politician, politics, reading
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Boy with silk animal face hat, Kunming, 1945
Traditionally, animal face hats were made by a maternal grandmother for her grandson. The animal face – especially the large teeth and eyes – would frighten evil spirits away and so protect the infant. The fruit being sold at the … Continue reading