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Contributing Institution:
Special Collections
Title: Tsingtau 1898-1903
Creator:
Behme, Friedrich
Identifier/Call Number: 2002.R.37
Identifier/Call Number: /repositories/3/resources/237
Physical Description:
1 album(s)
(90 photographic prints)
Date (inclusive): 1898-1903
Abstract: The album compiled by Friedrich Behme contains 90 photographs that record the
development of the German colony in the port city of Tsingtao (Qingdao).
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Language of Material: Collection material is in German.
Open for use by qualified researchers.
Acquired in 2002.
The collection was digitized by the repository in 2021 and the images are available online:
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/2002r37
In original order, arranged in a single series: Series I. Tsingtau, 1898-1903.
Friedrich Behme was a German lawyer appointed to the civil court in Qingdao. He was the author of numerous books including
the guidebook
Führer durch Tsingtau und Umgebung (1897-1900).
Located on the south coast of the Shantung Peninsula at the eastern entrance to Jiaozhou Bay, Qingdao, once a small fishing
village, occupied a
strategic naval position in the Yellow Sea by the late-nineteenth century. Following the murder of two German missionaries,
the Germans occupied Qingdao
in 1897, and by 1898 had forced the Chinese government to concede them a 99-year lease on Jiaozhou Bay and the surrounding
territory. Qingdao was
declared a free port in 1899, and a branch of the Imperial Maritime Customs was established there to increase control over
the region's extensive
coastal trade. Germany controlled the region until 1914 when Japan declared war on Germany and captured the port.
Tsingtau, 1898-1903, Getty Research Institute, Research Library, Accession no. 2002.R.37
http://hdl.handle.net/10020/cifa2002r37
Processed and cataloged by Beth Ann Guynn. The finding aid was encoded by Holly Larson with grant funding from the Council
on Library and Information
Resources (CLIR). Guynn updated the finding aid in 2021.
Scope and Content of Collection
This album of 90 collodion prints compiled bwtween 1898 and 1903 records the development of the German colony in the port
city of Qingdao (Tsingtao) on
the northeast coast of China. It begins with five panoramic views of the city, with colonial landmarks identified on the mounts.
The many views of
streets and individual buildings that follow portray a Western-style city under construction. All aspects of the German colony
are represented: civil
and government buildings, businesses and banks, hotels, schools, and German-founded industries and railroads. There are views
of the port, marineworks,
and military installations. A sense of newness is conveyed throughout these images which show clean, but unpaved streets and
newly erected buildings yet
to be landscaped. Several views of buildings under construction include neat piles of bricks and other building materials.
There are two images of
Chinese construction workers.
In addition to city views, several photographs commemorate individuals important in the history of the German colony. These
include a view of the
Diedrichstein monument erected in honor of Admiral von Diedrichs, who secured Jiaozhou Bay (Kiaochou Bay) and Qingdao for
the Germans in 1897, and one
of the monument to Paul Jaeschke, the governor-general of Qingdao from 1899-1901. There is one photograph of Graf Waldersee,
who was sent to China in
1901 to coordinate the foreign resistance to the Boxer Rebellion, with a group of officials. Also included are one studio
portrait of Chinese street
vendors and a few views of Chinese buildings. The album is accompanied by one modern copy photograph of a Chinese man and
his two wives (image
attributed to Behme), and a notecard and envelope on Kaiserliches Gouvernement, Tsingtau letterhead, addressed to Countess
Lonsdale from Mrs. Truppel
and dated 1903 April 25.
Title from title page. Some photographs maybe earlier than the date given on the title page. German captions are written on
the mounts; 31 photographs
have German captions in the negative. Titles of the individual photographs are derived from the captions as noted.
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Rights and Reproductions
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Subjects and Indexing Terms
Gelatin silver prints -- China -- 20th century
Collodion prints -- China -- 19th century
Jaeschke, Paul -- Monuments.
Diederichs, Otto von, 1843-1918 -- Monuments
Qingdao (China) -- Description and travel
Qingdao (China) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Indigenous peoples -- China
China -- Colonization
Architecture, Colonial -- China
Waldersee, Alfred, Graf von, 1832-1904
Jiaozhou Bay (China) -- Description and travel
Germany -- Colonies
China -- History -- Qing dynasty, 1644-1912
China -- Description and travel