Some of the earliest pictures of "Ancient Peking"

[Randy W]

The Rare Foreigner Who Could Capture the Essence of Ancient Peking

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Thomas Child. No. 85. Peking Streets. 1870s. This photograph depicts late–Qing dynasty commerce in the Chinese city of Peking.

 

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Thomas Child. No. 62. Great Pure Gate. 1870s. This is a 19th-century view of the front gate of the Imperial City. Child explains in his description of the photographs that the gate “only opened on special state occasions for the Emperor to pass through.”

 

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In 1870, 29-year-old Thomas Child packed his camera and traveled to Peking (now known as Beijing) for a five-year contract as a gas engineer with the Imperial Maritime Customs Service, leaving behind a wife and three children in England. Before 1861, the city was almost entirely closed to foreigners, and by the time Child arrived, there were still only around 100 foreigners living there. The city was rarely photographed.

Over the course of two decades in the Chinese capital, Child managed an incredible feat, taking nearly 200 photographs—the earliest comprehensive survey of Peking and its surroundings—in his free time. The photos show shops and crowds, important architectural features, trade and commerce, and marriage and funeral rituals. Images from the Stephan Loewentheil Historical Collection of China Photography, which includes the finest collection of Child’s Peking photographs, are on display in the exhibit “Qing Dynasty Peking: Thomas Child’s Photographs” at London’s China Exchange from Nov. 10–15.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

From the same photographer (and some of the same pictures) - in the Atlantic

 

Before Beijing: A Rare View of China's Last Dynasty

• EMILY ANNE EPSTEIN . SEP 22, 2016 . 20 PHOTOS . SPOTLIGHT

 

On Thursday, an exhibition of his images will open at the Sidney Mishkin Gallery in New York, curated by Stacey Lambrow. In addition, descendants of the subjects of one of his most famous images, Bride and Bridegroom (1870s), will be in attendance.

 

 

 

 

A photograph of a traditional bridal sedan chair, which would carry a bride to her wedding. The journey in the chair is meant to represent the bride’s transition from one family to another.

 

 

 

A view of the terrain 19th-century travelers faced when journeying to the Great Wall of China. During his travels, Child traversed this region with his fragile photographic equipment and glass plate negatives.