Hangzhou has long been famous as a honeymoon destination, and 84 years ago newlywed Americans Benjamin March and Dorothy Rowe visited the city and eloquently recorded their trip in words and photos.

An exhibition of the couple's 67 photos and diary entries is underway at the Art Museum of Tang Yun on Nanshan Road through November 30. The pictures and commentaries record 32 days from July 3 to August 4, 1925. The exhibit, titled "1925: Benjamin March's Honeymoon in Hangzhou - 100 Years of Photography of West Lake", also includes pictures by other photographers.

Featured photographs include the unspoiled West Lake, little creeks that vanished years ago, rickshaws and sedan chairs, and other sites.

Benjamin March (1899-1934) was an expert on Eastern art as well as a writer, curator and lecturer. The Chicago native was one of the foremost authorities on Chinese art during the 1920s and 1930s. From 1925-27 he worked at Yenching University in Beijing as an instructor in English, a lecturer on Chinese art, and a librarian.

While in China, March met and married Rowe, the China-born daughter of a Methodist missionary living in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.

They spent their honeymoon mainly in Hangzhou, with a side-trip to Suzhou, Jiangsu province.

The newly-married couple visited virtually every scenic spot: Baochu Pagoda, Three Pools Mirroring the Moon, Dragon Well, Tiger Spring, Jade Spring, Solitary Hill and other sites.

March recorded his sights and impressions in a diary in a bright, delicate style.

Some of the moments documented describe boating on the West Lake and listening to music:

"Many boats were on the lake and there was much sweet music as we circled around toward the Imperial Island. The Chinese know what music fits a scene like this...”

"If I had started when I was a small boy as many Chinese small boys start, I might now be able to play the long slim bamboo flute that is made for a man to play when he sits alone in the moonlight and whose sound is so delicate that only a few can listen and hear it...”

He also wrote about his experiences in Hangzhou’s many small lanes and shops:

"We have found a fairly clean and very elaborately tiled and white-painted barber shop...The young fellow cut my hair with great care and precision, and also have me a shave...Having finished the space normally allotted to the razor, gleaning until not a bit of recognizable stubble was left, he started off in the manner of Chinese barbers making the surface of their Chinese customers smooth.”

Professor Shen Hong of Zhejiang University translated the Hangzhou part of March's diary and explained why Hangzhou was popular with foreigners back then: "In the early 19th century, many foreign missionaries came to Hangzhou for its capital position, transport convenience and beautiful scenery, and they promoted Hangzhou to the world."

The photos and diary kept by March were donated by his daughter Judith March Davis in 1995 to the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. They are part of the American Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Asian Art.

The gallery took the photos and diary entries and made them into an exhibit, titled "Making an Appointment at the West Lake of Hangzhou in China"..

Shen said he had learned from Smithsonian staff on the Internet about the old photos, which led to the current Hangzhou exhibit.

Though most scenic spots visited by March can still be found, many other things like wooden bridges, rickshaws and that barbershop are gone.

"March's photos show many places like Wenjin Fang on Zhongshan Road, which we had thought disappeared long before, and the famous Eighteen Arhats Statues in Shengyin Temple," says Shen.

Besides March's photos, the Smithsonian Institution also donated photos by Robert Ferrie Fitch and Sidney Gamble. Gamble is best known for his remarkable and extensive photographs of Beijing and northern China.

"I'm so happy and grateful because this is the first time we have taken objects back to China and I hope more artworks, not only Chinese ones, can come in the future," says Keith Wilson, associate director of the Freer and Sackler Galleries.

The Art Museum of Tang Yun is also exhibiting old Hangzhou photos, some taken as early as 1870.

The Art Museum of Tang Yun

Address: 45 Nanshan Rd

Admission: Free

How to get there: Bus 102, 12, 4, 809, J9, Y9, Y6, 808, 809 to Wansongling Road stop.

Source: Shanghai Daily

Editor: Li Hui