Historial Hong Kong: "Through the Lens of John Thomson: Hong Kong and Coastal China, 1868-1872"

For better or for worse, Hong Kong’s breakneck rate of development makes the city of today almost unrecognizable from that of 100 years ago. But the curve of a street, a historical sign or a façade of a building can still take us back to how it used to be. If you’re interested in old Hong Kong, a vast new collection of photographs exhibited at the Maritime Museum offers a window into a time of junk boats, sedan chairs—and a drastically reduced shoreline.

The exhibition is a series of shots taken by Scottish photographer John Thomson, one of the first in his profession to travel and work in Asia. Trained as an instrument-maker and a chemist, Thomson took up photography and moved to Singapore in 1862, traveling widely around the region and capturing images of the King of Siam, among others, before moving to Hong Kong in 1868 and setting up a studio on Queen’s Road Central.

Among the quiet, almost quaint landscapes of Hong Kong lies a different kind of gem: striking, documentary photos of the very earliest Hongkongers—especially of women. “Thompson would be able to sell the landscapes to magazines back in London,” says Betty Yao, the curator of the exhibition. “The women, I’m not sure. I think it was of personal interest of him to document the people.”

Yao points out that these photos of the past contain a lesson for the future, too. “Hong Kong is a small place that we should conserve,” she says. “We should conserve our environment and value traditional buildings, so we can look back to hundreds of years ago.” Fortunate, then, that John Thomson was doing it for us in the earliest days of the city.

“Through the Lens of John Thomson: Hong Kong and Coastal China, 1868-1872” runs from November 23 to February 16 at the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, Central Ferry Pier No. 8, Man Kwong St., Central, 3713-2500. Admission $30.