picturing china photographs from british collections

Picturing CHINA

Photographs from British collections

1870-1950Photographs from British collections

This exhibition

• This comes from a project researching the history of the Chinese Maritime Custom Service

• It focuses on issues related to modern Chinese history and to the history of foreign imperialism.

中国简史Brief History of China

• 8000BC late stone Age• 221BC Qin Dynasty (First unification)• 206BC Han Dynasty• 618AD Tang Dynasty• 960AD Song Dynasty• 1260 Yan Dynasty• 1380 Ming Dynasty• 1644 Qing Dynasty• 1912 Last emperor abdicates• 1919 -49 National anarchy: age of the warlords• 1949 People’s Republic of China

BRITAIN Date CHINA

Singapore founded 18261820

Victoria Queen 1837Afghan war 1838-42 1st Opium War begins-

1830

← 1839 → -1st Opium War begins

1st Opium War ends 1842 -

1840 ← 1842 →

Hong Kong given to Britain1842 -1st Opium War ends1848 Cixi takes power in China

War with Burma 1852 War with Russia 1854-6 (Crimean War) 2nd Opium War 1856-8- Indian Mutiny 1858

1850

← →

1850-4 Taiping Rebellion Rising against Qing dynasty

-1856-8 2nd Opium War China defeated

Suez canal opened 1869

1860

2nd Afghan War 1878 -80 1870

Boer War (S. Africa) 1881 1880 1884-5 War with France1888 Indo-China (Vietnam) created by France

2nd Boer War begins 1899 –

British embassy beseiged -

1890

← →

1894-5 War with Japan Japan takes Taiwan1899 Boxer Rising against colonial powers

2nd Boer War ends - 1901Queen Victoria dies 1901Edward VII 1901 -1910

1900

1909 Cixi dies

George V 1910 -36World War 1 1914 -18

1910Emperor Pu’I dethroned 1911

1920 - 1949 period of the warlords

1937 1937-1945 Japan invades China

1949 People’s Republic established

鸦片战争 Opium Wars

• First Opium war 1839-1842 Treaty of Nanjing

• Second Opium war 1856-1860 Treaty of Tianjing Supplementary treaty of Peking

After Opium Wars

• Opium trade made legal for foreigners• More than 80 treaty ports were established in China.• Many foreign goods were freed from import tax. • The Maritime customs office was taken over and

run by British officials.• China had lost her sovereignty over the import

taxes

Where ?

Chinese Maritime Customs Service

• It was a customs tax collection agency and information service founded in Shanghai in 1854.

• It was established and run by foreign consuls.• At least 11,000 foreign nationals were employed .• Over twenty-five different nationalities of employees.• First inspector general of the Customs Service was a British

diplomat.

• 1840-1950

Tens of thousands of Britons lived in or visited China

The subjects of the photos

Ordinarypeople

Diplomats

Visitors

Missionaries

Policemen

Merchants

photos

How long would it take to travel from

Britain to China?

• Five and half months by water (before)• Eleven hours by air (now)

World Map

‘Photography was and is a staggering invention. It brought our ancestors face to face with themselves, and it brings us face to face with them’

- Robert Pols (Dating old photographs)

Photos on show

• Commerce and industry• The Chinese Maritime Customs Service• Everyday life• Women• Foreigners in China• Politics and protest• Old China Hands

How old are they now?

Children in a photographer’s studio,Shanghai(1907)

Commerce and industry

The Chinese Maritime Customs Service

Everyday life

women

Foreigners in China

Politics and protest

Old China Hands

Men and women born in China before 1949 who live in Britain today

……..

Do you know?

• What is the Customs service?• Why did so many Britons leave home to work and live in

China?• What was the transportation for them?• How long it would take them to get there?• And how long to travel around China?• Does your family have any link with this part of history?

Further Reading A

• On a Chinese Screen• A Thousand miles of miracle in China• Chinese looking glass• Empire made me• Britain in China• The Boxers, China• Missionary Encounters• Friends to China

Further Reading B

• China through a College Window• The Crippled Tree• The gate of happy sparrows• The Dragons backbone• News from Tartary• Forbidden Journey• Forgotten Kingdom• The last Empress

Further Reading C

• Tulku• Good Earth• Rickshaw boy• Flashman and the Dragon

Somewhere to Visit

Museum

LondonBristol

Museum

MuseumOf East Asia

Art

British Museum

National Maritime Museum

Imperial War

Museum

Oxford Ashmolean

Museum

More…..

More……

Useful link

http://chp.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/history/customs

http://www.bacsuk.org.uk

http://www.aasianst.org

Historical Photographs of China website: http://chp.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr

End 谢谢