These Century Old Pictures Give Us A Glimpse of the Last Chinese Dynasty

I promise this will go better than all the Sejarah classes you never sat in because you ponteng to go CC, kay?

Our story kicks off with the British bugger, Thomas Child. He, in fact, wasn’t a child and was at the ripe age of 29 when he was hired by China’s Imperial Maritime Customs Service to work in Peking (now Beijing) in 1870.

Leaving behind his wife and kids, he joined about 100 other foreigners who were asked to come to China and luckily for us, the fella was a photography geek and brought his camera along! These are some of nearly 200 of his pics of the late Qing Dynasty!

Wedding Portrait

This is one of his most famous photographs and the peeps in the picture were only recently identified to be Zeng Jifen and Nie Ji Gui. I don’t know which is which, but I do know the bride’s dad is a very atas fella during the Qing Dynasty.

Great Wall Of M̶e̶x̶i̶c̶o̶  China

This shot shows the Great Wall and the Nankou pass to Mongolia! If you can point out the pass on Facebook, I will be both amazed and a little scared of your IQ.

Bridal Chair

Fun fact: this is called a bridal sedan.

Not-so-fun-fact: The journey represents the transition of the bride from one family to another.

Stone(d) Camels

This place is called the Spirit Way, at the Imperial Tombs outside of Peking which makes my pot joke even better as the spirits rise higher to the heavens.

Not-So Twin Towers (Pagodas)

 LEFT: Fragrant Hills Pagoda; RIGHT: Pagoda of Tianning Temple

The pagoda’s are of Buddhist significant as they are almost always located near monasteries and temples. Some, like the one of the right contain various ancient artifacts and are reportedly very colourful. That time everyone addicted to B&W filters.

Jade Belt Bridge

This bridge is actually still standing in the Summer Palace, located on the shores of … Kunming Lake… I’m not the only one reading this right?

Anyway this bridge was built in such a way to allow… the emperor’s large dragon boat to squeeze through… seriously la why damn hamsap this part!

Gambar Lama Tua Lama

No, I mean that literally! This is an old picture of an old lama! Lamas are basically Tibetan Buddhist monks, this one also has his young apprentice with him.

Forbidden City

This is a view of the Forbidden City from across the moat. In this photo you can still see the imperial fortifications which aren’t visible anymore.

Grand Canal

This is the MOST important canal in the entire Qing Dynasty! It’s the main channel for shipping grain and other supplies to Peking, bringing merchants from north and south China together.

The view of a street scene in front of an ornate wooden tobacco shop in the quarter of Peking, also known as the Chinese City.

These images are without a doubt beautiful and astonishingly enough to be taken for people from our generation to see.

H/T: theatlantic