Category Archives: Digitisation

Smiles and coracles, 1938

This snapshot of (I think) some boatside begging, was taken or acquired by Edgar Taylor, who served in the British Royal Navy, and was possibly taken at Hankow (Hankou, Wuhan) on the Yangzi. We do not know much about the … Continue reading

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Graduation!

The University of Bristol this week held its first graduation cemeremony in China. Two hundred students attended the ceremony in Beijing, and it is planned that this event will be held every two years. To mark the occasion here is … Continue reading

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Volunteers

It is 170 years ago this week that the Shanghai Volunteer Corps was first established. The SVC, as it was known, became a fixture of life in the International Settlement in the city from 1870-1942, and I have blogged a … Continue reading

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Last years of the comprador/e

The latest Wikileaks release has some interesting China material. My eye was caught by a practical note dated 24 March 1973 from the US Consulate in Hong Kong to the State Department, forwarding practical information about “administrative and other procedures … Continue reading

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'Picturing China' on display in Beijing

On Thursday 21st March, the British ambassador to China, Sebastian Wood CMG, opened an exhibition of a selection of the project’s photographs, organised by the British Embassy and funded by Research Councils UK. There have been stories in China News … Continue reading

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Darwent's Shanghai

We have been quiet recently, but busy, preparing a modest exhibition which responds to a favourite in our collections, the photographs of the Reverend Charles Ewart Darwent, minister of the Union Church Shanghai (新天安堂) from 1899-1919. As well as publishing … Continue reading

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Winter in black and white

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The Hangchow Bore

The Qiantang River and Hangchow (Hangzhou) Bay have long attracted visitors to witness the roaring tidal bore – the largest in the world.  This swirling wall of water travels at up to 40 kilometers per hour (25 miles an hour) … Continue reading

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A photographer’s view

The great photographer Diane Arbus once observed that ‘a photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know.’  NA07-107 is the very picture of such secretive photography, if only because it is such … Continue reading

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Taikoo ships and buildings

For readers interested in the photographs of shipping that can be found in the collections, notably those of G. Warren Swire, or the architectural history of the treaty ports, there are two new sites to investigate. John Swire & Sons … Continue reading

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