Tientsin (Tianjin) China photographs, circa 1900-1906

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Summary

Abstract:
Photographs of Tientsin (Tianjin) plus a small panorama of Shanghai.
Extent:
0.42 linear feet (1 document box)
Language:
German
Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Tientsin (Tianjin) China photographs, Bernath Mss 488. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Background

Scope and content:

Photographs of Tientsin (Tianjin) plus a small panorama of Shanghai. Taken in the immediate aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion the photographs in this extensive collection detail life and activities in the Foreign Concessions as well as in the old Chinese City. The album evidently assembled by a German military officer, with an inscription "In memory of Cousin George, Breslau, September 1906".

Tientsin views include a column of German soldiers at Taku Plaza, consecration of German Soldiers monument, an internment of a German officer at the International cemetary [sic], Machine Gun Section Victoria Road, Mumm Street, Taku Road, Wilhelm Street, Astor House Hotel and Gordon Hall in the British concession, Ruins from the 'troubles' of 1900, Chinese Match Factory converted to German Barracks, Japanese Consulate, Railway Station and reception of senior officers, Race Day, Warehouses, German business premises of Heinrich Schmidt, and Carl Wolff, house of a German General and consulate, Russian pontoon bridge and Russian consulate, wedding of Brigadier General Petzel's daughter to Lieutenant Krapatschek. International concessions are also detailed by portraits of a Sikh soldier and the two English soldiers, 'Bob & Jim', a British marching band, Russian soldiers posed around the Gateway to the Russian 'Fort', views of Bastille Day celebrations in the French concession, the arrival of the Commander of the Japanese troops, a German postal carriage with guards, hunting party, a group portrait of a German military band with several Chinese sitters, and a meeting of High Mandarins with the representatives of the International Consulates.

Studies of the strategically important Peiho River include Chinese Junks and coolies, merchant shipping, local ferry and fishing boats, rafts and barges, and the German Torpedo boat S.90. One image shows a row of cannons captured from the Chinese in 1900.

Chinese city views include busy street scenes with labourers and vendors. Merchant shops show signs for boots; trades include tailors, a picture seller, a painter and decorator, fast food sellers, rickshaw drivers, a money changer; there are various palanquins and bearers, a wedding sedan chair, school children, an execution, Chinese girl with bound feet, Chinese Imperial post, visiting Mandarins, Tongshan coal mining folk – and the Chinese employees of the Franz Scholz Photography Co.

Acquisition information:
Library purchase, 2015.
Physical location:
Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

The collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Research Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Research Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Research Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of Item], Tientsin (Tianjin) China photographs, Bernath Mss 488. Department of Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Location of this collection:
UC Santa Barbara Library
Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010, US
Contact:
(805) 893-3062
special@library.ucsb.edu
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