These photos of China were made by Thomas Child in the 1870s and 1880s, and today these pictures are a real window to old China. In May 1870 Childa was employed by the Imperial Maritime Customs Service as an engineer. He was 29 years old, he left his wife and three children and went to the capital of the late Qi dynasty, taking with him a camera.
During his 20 years in China, Thomas Child made more than 200 photographs. In his lens came temples and pagodas, roads, sculptures, bridges and pagodas, customs and people. He documented the dismantling of the palace walls, and in the comments to his photographs, which he published in foreign journals, complained of dirt in the streets, pesky insects and rats that were everywhere.

1. A street in Beijing

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2. The Great Wall of China

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3. Wedding palanquin

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4. “The Way of Spirits”

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5. The Yudaiqiao Bridge

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6. The Grand Canal

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7. Bronze astronomical instrument

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8. The road to the Great Wall of China

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9. Fountain Gate in Yuan Min Yuan

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10. Zeng Jifeng and Ni Ji Gui

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11. The Forbidden City

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12. Wang Sho-Shan

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13. Travelers on the Silk Road

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14. Temple of Azure Clouds

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15. Arch near the entrance to the Tombs of Ming

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16. Tobacco shop

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17. The Arched Bridge

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