A lensman's Chinese odyssey

Visitors enjoy the late Qing Dynasty scenes recorded by Scottish photographer John Thomson. In the portrait of a Cantonese official, the photographer employed chiaroscuro technique which was against the rules of portrait photograph at that time.

A triptych of photographic portraits unveils a Manchu family scene in Beijing, in 1871, which few outsiders would have seen. In front of an ordinary house, a Manchu woman in her 40s appears with her daughter-in-law and three grandchildren in one frame, and with her daughter-in-law in two others.

Sitting on a bench and holding the youngest child, the woman wears a content smile. In the images where she appears with her daughter-in-law, her smile is replaced by an indifferent, even severe visage. The daughter-in-law looks down, lower than the camera, suggesting a deference to her mother-in-law.

The rare photos were taken by Scottish photographer John Thomson (1837-1921) and are among the 148 on show at the Beijing World Art Museum.

The exhibition, called China: Through the Lens of John Thomson 1868-72, includes portraits, landscapes, architecture, domestic and street scenes shot in Beijing and Tianjin, as well as Guangdong and Fujian provinces. This is the first time the photos are being shown in the land where they were taken 130 years ago.

"Looking at these old photos, one has to appreciate Thomson's efforts," says Betty Yao, curator of the exhibition. "Through these pictures we can sense a love of China, a curiosity about the Oriental and an appreciation of different cultures."

Born in Hong Kong and now a program director of a non-profit organization in London, Yao first saw these photographs at the Wellcome Library, a London-based collection put together by Sir Henry Solomon Wellcome (1853-1936), a businessman and art connoisseur. Fascinated by these images, Yao spent three years trying to take these to China.

John Thomson was one of the many British travelers who arrived in China in the late 19th century.

The Scottish photographer was taken in by the vast landscape of China and the traditional lifestyles of the local people. During his stay, Thomson won the trust of the natives and often had access to their households.

He would get to photograph subjects and people that were rarely captured by others at the time, including female members of rich families and high-ranking officials such as Prince Gong, a younger brother of Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).