# Chinese Pictures: Notes on Photographs Made in China

CHINESE PICTURES
Notes on Photographs Made in China
BY MRS. J. F. BISHOP F.R.G.S., etc.
CHARLES L. BOWMAN & CO. 225, Fifth Avenue, Brunswick Building New York
This little book is the outcome of talks with Mrs. Bishop over some of the photographs which were taken by her in one or other of her journeys into and across China. Some of the photographs have already appeared in her published works, "The Yangtze Valley and Beyond" and "Korea and Her Neighbourhood" (2 vols., Murray). The notes were, in substance, dictated by Mrs. Bishop. It is hoped they contain some real information on the people, their surroundings, and habits which, though slight in form, may be helpful to a better understanding of a very difficult problem.
According to our newspaper press to-day, the Chinese are simply cruel barbarians. According to Mrs. Bishop, when you know them they are a likeable people—and she has formed this opinion in spite of the fact that, in their deeply-rooted hatred of the foreigners, they twice attacked her with violence. A real understanding of the people is for us, with our different modes of thought, most difficult to arrive at; but we shall not advance towards it by accepting all the evil reports and shutting our ears to the good ones. That the problem of China is, and will for some time continue to be, the most interesting question to the rest of the world is certain. The future of its people is all unknown, but there are in it possibilities which make it a terror to all other nations.
ERRATA.
The illustrations on p. 79 and p. 81 have been transposed. The former represents "The Tablet of Confucius," the latter, "The Altar of Heaven."
Chinese Pictures.
​CONTENTS.
PAGE
​THE PRIVATE ENTRANCE TO THE IMPERIAL PALACE, PEKING.
A subject of considerable interest, owing to the mystery surrounding the members of the Imperial Family. The photograph was taken from the wall of the Purple or Forbidden City, in which only the Imperial Family and their entourage have the right to dwell. The building in the centre, which is roofed with yellow titles, is supposed to be the residence of the Emperor, but where he does actually reside remains a mystery. The entrance to the Palace is through the arches in the building on the left.
THE PRIVATE ENTRANCE TO THE IMPERIAL PALACE, PEKING.
​THE ENTRANCE TO THE BRITISH LEGATION.
The Legation is a fine old palace, which formerly belonged to a member of the Imperial Family. The photograph shows the entrance to the first courtyard. The Legation compound is very extensive, and contains several courtyards with buildings round each. It is very highly decorated, the designs shown in this picture being elaborately wrought in lacquered work of gold and colours. This is the building recently attacked by the Chinese in their attempt to destroy all foreigners, including the members of the various European Legations who took refuge with Sir Claude Macdonald.
THE ENTRANCE TO THE BRITISH LEGATION.
​ENTRANCE TO THE COLLEGE OF THE STUDENT INTERPRETERS.
Student interpreters are young Englishmen who enter the College to prepare themselves for the Consular Service. At eighteen they have to pass their entrance examination. They receive given posts in connection with one of the various Chinese Consulates. All our Chinese Consuls are drawn from this College. It stands within the grounds of the Legation, which is the building shown on the right of the picture.
ENTRANCE TO THE COLLEGE OF THE STUDENT INTERPRETERS.
​THE STATE CARRIAGE OF THE BRITISH LEGATION.
There are practically no carriage roads in China, so that there is virtually no carriage traffic. This rough, springless cart is the only carriage drawn by animals at the disposal of the Legation.
THE STATE CARRIAGE OF THE BRITISH LEGATION.
​THE GREAT IMPERIAL STONE ROAD FROM PEKING TO CHENGTU, THE CAPITAL OF SZE CHUAN.
Made more than a thousand years ago, it must have been a gigantic work at the time of its construction. It was paved throughout with rough stone flags for about eight feet, or about half its width, and planted with cedars. It is now very much out of repair, as are most things in China, the flags disappearing now and again for long distances; but it is still the object of much official attention, and every year certain magistrates inspect it and count the cedars, every one of which is sealed with the Imperial seal. Many of the trees have died, but many still survive and are grand objects by the roadside.
A MULE CART.
​A MANCHURIAN FAMILY TRAVELLING.
A MANCHURIAN FAMILY TRAVELLING.
​CARRIAGE BY BEARERS.
Out in the country there are practically no roads, as we understand roads. It is necessary to cultivate every inch of available ground, and the farmer begrudges anything taken from the fields for the paths, which are but a foot or two wide. It is easy to understand that, under such conditions, the almost universal mode of passenger transit is by chairs and bearers. The narrowness of the paths is a source of trouble. When two parties of bearers approach each other, there is much shouting to induce one or other to return and make way; but when both come on, one has to get off, or be pushed off, into the swamp by the sides. When one is a foreigner his portion is invariably the swamp.
CARRIAGE BY BEARERS.
A TRAVELLER ARRIVING AT AN INN IN MANCHURIA.
​CARRIAGE OF MERCHANDISE.
CARRIAGE OF MERCHANDISE.
​THE MODE OF CARRYING OIL AND WINE
THE MODE OF CARRYING OIL AND WINE
​WHEELBARROW TRAFFIC ON THE CHENGTU PLAIN.
This Chengtu Plain, with its 2,500 square miles of country and 4,000,000 population, is perhaps the best cultivated and most fertile spot in the world. It owes its fertility to the work of two engineers, who, more than two thousand years ago (250 years B.C.), designed and carried out the most perfect system of
WHEELBARROW TRAFFIC ON THE CHENGTU PLAIN.
​THE WHEELBARROW OF NORTH CHINA.
This is another form of the same baggage-carrier which is in use all over the Empire. It is much larger than that in use on the Plain of Chengtu, but is constructed on the same principle; by means of it one man can wheel as much as half a ton. It is a vehicle well adapted to the narrow roads of the country. ​
THE WHEELBARROW OF NORTH CHINA.
​A SMALL HOUSEBOAT ON THE YANGTZE KIANG.
A SMALL HOUSEBOAT ON THE YANGTZE KIANG.
​A FOOT BOAT FOUND IN CENTRAL CHINA.
A FOOT BOAT FOUND IN CENTRAL CHINA.
​HSIN TAN RAPID ON THE YANGTZE RIVER.
HSIN TAN RAPID ON THE YANGTZE RIVER.
​A BOAT ON THE MIN RIVER, USED FOR RUNNING THE RAPIDS.
A BOAT ON THE MIN RIVER, USED FOR RUNNING THE RAPIDS.
​PART OF A FRINGE OF JUNKS OR RIVER BOATS AT WAN HSIEN,
PART OF A FRINGE OF JUNKS OR RIVER BOATS AT WAN HSIEN.
​THE BRIDGE OF TEN THOUSAND AGES, FOOCHOW.
THE BRIDGE OF TEN THOUSAND AGES, FOOCHOW.
​A BRIDGE AT WAN HSIEN OF THE SINGLE ARCH TYPE.
A BRIDGE AT WAN HSIEN OF THE SINGLE ARCH TYPE.
​THE BRIDGE OF MIEN CHUH SZE CHUAN.
THE BRIDGE OF MIEN CHUH SZE CHUAN.
​A SIMPLE COUNTRY BRIDGE.
The kind of bridge found on a secondary road in Sze Chuan, constructed of wood roofed in with tiles, after the manner of Switzerland, to protect it from the weather. ​
A SIMPLE COUNTRY BRIDGE.
​A DRAGON BRIDGE.
Quite a common form of stone bridge, in which every pier is surmounted by a dragon, the national emblem. ​
A DRAGON BRIDGE.
Its name indicates its peculiar character. It makes nine zig-zags across the water to the most celebrated tea house in Shanghai, and, perhaps, the most fashionable tea house in China. It is the resort of mandarins and people of the upper classes. Women are never seen at the tea houses. They are patronised by men only. Women, indeed, are very little seen in public at all. The absence of the female element is a marked feature in Chinese life. ​
THE ZIG-ZAG BRIDGE OF SHANGHAI.
​THE GARDEN OF THE GUILD OF BENEVOLENCE, CHUNG KING.
China is the country of guilds. All workmen and traders have their guilds. To this rule there are but two exceptions—the water-carriers and the trackers (men who drag the boats up the rapids); these alone have no trade organisation. These guilds, or trade unions, are as complete and as effective for good or harm as anything we know in this country. They watch most jealously the interests of their craft. But the guild enters into the life of the people at every turn. The charities of the Empire, which are numerous, are conducted by guilds. There is, perhaps, little personal charity and benevolence; it is safer to leave these to the guilds. But there is scarcely a town of any size that has not its Guild of Benevolence. Soup kitchens, clothing for the living, coffins and burial for the dead, hospitals, free dispensaries, orphan and foundling homes, life-boats, and many other charities are the outcome of these Guilds of Benevolence. ​
THE GARDEN OF THE GUILD OF BENEVOLENCE, CHUNG KING.
​A BURIAL CHARITY.
A CEMETERY, with temple attached, for the burial, with all sacred rites, of strangers who may have died friendless. To a Chinaman the most important event in his history is his burial. We can have no idea of what decent burial means to him. He is thinking of it and arranging for it all his life, and it is not to be wondered at that so large a part of the operation of Chinese charity should connect itself with funerals. To be suitably buried is the great hope and aim of every Chinaman.
A BURIAL CHARITY.
When a baby dies, and the parents are too poor to give it a decent burial, they drop its poor little body into one of the openings in this tower. A Guild of Benevolence charges itself with the task of clearing out the tower every two or three days, burying the bodies with all religious rites and ceremony. ​
A BABY TOWER, FOOCHOW.
​BOTTLE SELLER AND HOSPITAL PATIENT.
The hospitals of England and China have evidently many things in common. Inside the compound of the English Presbyterian Medical Mission of Swatow, the patients buy their bottles of the vendor as they if were patients of Guy's or St. Bartholomew's. A similar incident is to be witnessed in Smithfield any day of the week. It may be mentioned that the hospital of this particular Medical Mission is nearly the largest in the East. In times of stress it accommodates four hundred patients, and in the proportion of its cures is one of the most successful in the world. ​
BOTTLE SELLER AND HOSPITAL PATENT.
​THE DYING COOLIE.
THE DYING COOLIE.
THE MODE OF SEPULCHRE THROUGHOUT SOUTHERN CHINA.
​COFFINS KEPT ABOVE GROUND.
So careful is the Chinaman about his burial, that the date and place of a funeral is not fixed until the geomancers have decided as to both. Sometimes the coffins with their inmates remain above ground for months, and even years, waiting for the professional decision as to a favourable day. In such cases, where the friends are able, every care is taken of them, incense being daily burned before them. It was no uncommon thing for Mrs. Bishop, on her journey in Sze Chuan, to have to sleep in a room where a coffin was stored, waiting the day of its interment, incense burning and other religious rites being daily performed in front of it. To prevent mischief owing to the retention of bodies above ground for so long a time, the coffins are built of very thick wood, the bodies are placed in lime, the joints of the coffin are cemented, and the whole covered with varnish. ​
COFFINS KEPT ABOVE GROUND.
​THE TEMPLE OF THE GOD OF LITERATURE AT MUKDEN.
THE TEMPLE OF THE GOD OF LITERATURE AT MUKDEN.
​THE TEMPLE OF THE FOX, MUKDEN.
Another temple at Mukden, greatly frequented by mandarins. A group of them is seated in the centre. The temple is situated close to the city wall, which is shown in process of decay, the descending roots of the trees stripping off its facing, which lies and will continue to lie on the ground. It is an admirable illustration of the way things are allowed to go to ruin in China. The Chinese will undertake new works; they seldom repair old ones, and an aspect of decay is consequently frequently visible. ​
THE TEMPLE OF THE FOX, MUKDEN.
​WAYSIDE SHRINES.
Found all over the country, and commonly known as "Joss Houses." There is an idol in each of them. They are of interest as presenting a similar feature to the shrine and wayside crucifixes found all over Catholic countries in Europe. ​
A WAYSIDE SHRINE.
A WAYSIDE SHRINE.
THE FICUS RELIGIOSA.
​THE ALTAR OF HEAVEN.
A FINE picture of an open-air altar outside Foochow City. ​
THE ALTAR OF HEAVEN.
​THE TABLET OF CONFUCIUS.
Wherever there is a magistrate there is a temple to Confucius, in which the magistrates do homage in memory of the Great Teacher. The tablet is inscribed with a number of his most important sayings having a bearing on the administration of justice. This great man has by his teaching dominated the laws, the teaching, the literature, and the whole social life of nearly half the human race for the last two thousand Years. These shrines are absolutely taboo to the foreigner, a fact which was learned by the traveller only after she had entered it and, finding it absolutely empty, had made her photograph. ​
THE TABLET OF CONFUCIUS.
​A PORCELAIN-FRONTED TEMPLE ON THE YANGTZE.
The manufacture of porcelain has for centuries made China celebrated. It may be of interest to refer to the fact that we owe the existence of our Worcester porcelain works to the attempt made by a chemist to produce porcelain in England similar to the Chinese. A great many temples in the Empire province of Sze Chuan have their fronts and roofs of this porcelain. They are most gorgeous in colour, and have the appearance of being jewelled. ​
A PORCELAIN-FRONTED TEMPLE ON THE YANGTZE.
​CHILD EATING RICE WITH CHOPSTICKS.
The Chinese eat an enormous number of things which the Western turns from, or which he doesn't know of. As a rule the Chinese are good cooks, and the food is wholesome, steaming being the favourite method. Rice is the staff oIlife to the masses, who eat it mixed with fried cabbage or some other flavouring ingredient. It is seldom eaten alone. So common and universal is rice eating that, while in French the equivalent of "How do you do?" is "How do you carry yourself?" and in Italian "How do you stay?" in Chinese the equivalent is "Have you eaten rice?" ​
CHILD EATING RICE WITH CHOPSTICKS.
​FORT ON THE PEKING WALL.
FORT ON THE PEKING WALL.
​ANOTHER FORT ON THE WALL OF PEKING.
ANOTHER FORT ON THE WALL OF PEKING.
​COLOSSAL ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS ON THE PEKING WALL.
COLOSSAL ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS ON THE PEKING WALL.
​CHIEN MUN GATE.
CHIEN MUN GATE.
​THE GATE OF VICTORY, MUKDEN.
THE GATE OF VICTORY, MUKDEN.
​THE WEST GATE OF KIALING FU.
A MOST picturesque entrance to the city. These gates are closed at sunset and opened at sunrise, the gongs and other instruments notifying the hours of opening and closing. ​
THE WEST GATE OF KIALING FU.
​THE WEST GATE OF HANGCHOW.
THE WEST GATE OF HANGCHOW.
​THE GATE OF A FORBIDDEN CITY.
In contrast to Hangchow, though only two miles from a treaty port, it is believed that no foreigner has ever had the foolhardiness to enter this gate. It is a city of the fifth order only; but such is the hatred and detestation in which the foreigner is held, it would be almost certain death to him to enter it. This hatred of the foreigner is a very curious characteristic of the country. No one can tell how it has arisen, for though one can understand that the attempts of Western nations to force open the ports of the country, and the seizure of territory by certain of them, and perhaps the advent of the missionaries, are causes enough to provoke opposition and hatred, they do not account for its ferocity. The idea of the Chinaman and the Chinawoman is that the foreigner is a child-eater, that no children are safe within his reach, that he kills children that he may take their eyes and hearts to make into his medicines. This belief is so deeply rooted, that when the cry of "Foreigner!" is raised, in almost any city, the women will run into the streets, snatch up their children, and carry them for safety into their homes; and the cry raised is always "Foreign devil!" "Child-eater!" It may be noted that a similar suspicion exists over a great part of Central and Southern Europe towards the Jews, who are charged with murdering children to mingle their blood with sacrifices. ​
THE GATE OF A FORBIDDEN CITY.
​SILK REELING.
Hangchow is the city of silk, a wealthy and generally well-to-do city. Everything speaks to the visitor of silk. The country is covered by the mulberry tree, which grows in every available spot. There are thousands of hand-looms. In the picture given, the silk is being wound into a thread from the cocoons, which are thrown into a pan of hot water, kept hot by a small furnace; the ends of the threads are disentangled from the cocoon, four or five of them taken together are given a twist by the right hand, whilst the left winds the thread on to the wheel. This is the first step in, and the foundation of, all silk manufacture. ​
SILK REELING.
​A TYPICAL ENTRANCE TO A HOUSE.
This particular house was at Mukden, in Manchuria. The main building is surrounded by a courtyard. The outer building contains the servants' rooms. They live around the courtyard, the family occupying the central building. The windows of the servants' rooms may be seen in the outer wall. The pillars of woodwork are highly decorated, and in the courtyard itself there is always a flower-garden. Comparing this simple house with a palace such as the English Legation, it will be seen that the latter is but an amplification of the ordinary house, the number of courtyards surrounding the chief dwelling being greater, but the principle of construction being the same. ​
A TYPICAL ENTRANCE TO A HOUSE.
​THE GUEST HALL IN A CHINESE HOUSE, WAN HSIEN, SZE CHUAN.
THE GUEST HALL IN A CHINESE HOUSE, WAN HSIEN, SZE CHUAN.
​A CHINESE VILLAGE
A CHINESE VILLAGE.
​A FARMHOUSE IN THE HAKKA COUNTRY, SOUTHERN CHINA.
An illustration of the Patriarchal system. When a son marries and brings home his wife, he literally brings her home—that is, to his father's house; but a new gable is added to those in existence, and the house increased for the accommodation of the new family, a custom which has its counterpart in Italy and other parts of Europe to-day. ​
A FARMHOUSE IN THE HAKKA COUNTRY, SOUTHERN CHINA.
All through the Empire province of Sze Chuan, the western province of the Yangtze Basin, markets are held in the market street, specially reserved for the purpose. On market days the street is crowded by thousands of people, the tea and other shops are overflowing, and the noise and shouts of the bargainers are deafening. The shops are generally owned by farmers in the neighbourhood, who let them for the use of merchants on market day. On other than market days they are like deserted villages. No one is to be seen but the caretaker and his family, who are shown in the photograph with the inevitable dog and pig and buffalo. The building on the right is a temple. ​
A MARKET PLACE OR MARKET STREET IN SZE CHUAN.
​THE COBBLER.
THE COBBLER.
​CARRYING LIQUID MANURE TO THE FIELDS.
In the great fertile plain of Sze Chuan, where four crops a year are taken off the ground, this is an enormous industry. The Chinese cannot afford any waste; everything must go back to the ground. We seek to get over the deterioration of the land by changing the crops. In China the same crops have been grown on the land for a thousand years, and it shows no signs of deterioration. ​
CARRYING LIQUID MANURE TO THE FIELDS,
Photo: G. S. Haya.
​THE MARRIAGE CHAIR.
THE MARRIAGE CHAIR.
​MODE OF CARRYING CASH AND BABIES.
In travelling, the carriage of money is a great annoyance, owing to the smallness of its value and the large number of coins or "cash" necessary to make up an amount of any size. Exchanging eighteen shillings English for brass cash, the weight of them amounted to seventy-two pounds, which had to be carried by the coolies. These cash have a square hole in the middle, and are strung together upon a piece of straw twist. Should the straw break, the loss of time in getting up the pieces is much more than the loss of the money. The Chinese are honest, very keen at a bargain, but when the bargain is made the Chinaman may be depended on to keep it. ​
MODE OF CARRYING CASH AND BABIES.
​A PAI-FANG, OR WIDOWS ARCH.
These are often very fine structures in stone, wonderfully carved, or in wood highly decorated. It is not uncommon to enter a town under quite a succession of them. Very fine ones are often found at the entrance of very squalid villages. They are erections put up to honour widows who, faithful to the memory of their husbands, have remained widows, devoting themselves to good works and to the service of their parents-in-law, which is the great duty of every good wife. Permission of the Emperor has to be obtained for their erection. The various towns and villages take pride in their "widows' arches." It is not uncommon to find a shrine for the burning of incense beside the arch. ​
A PAI-FANG, OR WIDOW'S ARCH.
​TWO SOLDIERS OF SZE CHUAN.
TWO SOLDIERS OF SZE CHUAN.
​OPIUM CULTURE ENCROACHING ON THE RICE LANDS, SZE CHUAN.
The great system of irrigation at Sze Chuan was intended for the cultivation of rice only; but the great and terrible growth in the demand for opium has caused the cultivation of the poppy so to increase that it is encroaching on the rice lands.
This may be regarded as the saddest and most terrible fact as regards the future of China.
The use of opium is of comparatively recent date, but the growth and spreading of the habit has been most rapid.
At the first, both local and government officials did their best to stop it and to stamp out the culture of the poppy; but although laws were passed making death the penalty for its cultivation they became a dead letter, until to-day it is estimated that eighty per cent, of the men and fifty per cent, of the women, in one or two populous provinces, are opium smokers. They do not all smoke to excess. There are moderate smokers as we have our moderate drinkers; but all through the province of Sze Chuan the opium shops are as thick as the gin shops in the lower parts of London.
OPIUM CULTURE ENCROACHING ON THE RICE LANDS, SZE CHUAN.
Printed by
CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE,
LONDON, E.C.
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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