Historial Hong Kong: "Through the Lens of John Thomson: Hong Kong and Coastal China, 1868-1872"
A new photography exhibition reveals Hong Kong and its people in the colony’s earliest days. By Adam White. Additional reporting by Leah Oh.
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.
Praya from Des Voeux Road
Hong Kong’s orginal shoreline runs along Des Voeux Road, also known as the Praya.
The two great opium-trading hongs of the time face each other on Pedder Street:
to the right is Jardine Matheson, and opposite it are the offices of Dent & Co. Dent’s
folded in 1867; Jardine’s took in US$31.4 billion in revenue in the first half of 2013.
A Boatwoman
The boatpeople of early Hong Kong were known as the “Tanka,” although the term is
now derogatory. The Cantonese saw them as lower class and crass, and a stereotype
arose that all Tanka women were prostitutes. Thomson claimed that they
were the prettiest women he had come across in China.
Lyndhurst Terrace
“Bai Fa Gai” in Central is decorated with a triumphal arch in honor of the Duke of
Edinburgh’s 1869 visit to the colony. The mundane reality of the street was rather
different: it was a brothel area so well known it merited a mention in “Finnegans Wake.”
An Old Cantonese Woman
Thomson respected the hardship and toughness of his subjects. “The old woman still
busies herself in the lighter domestic duties,” he wrote. “She is skilful with the needle, and
invaluable as a nurse in time of sickness. Her hair has grown thin and white, but she still
dresses it with neatness and care.”
A Family in Kowloon
The Chinese, complained Thomson, “stubbornly refuse sanitation as a body, or as individuals.
But of this we have examples much nearer home, in the centres of congested population in our
large towns.” The cats under the table seem happy, however.
Queen’s Road East
This Wan Chai thoroughfare was once a sleepier place. To the right of the photo is an
unchanged pawn shop sign, and a Sikh appears to stand guard beneath it.
A Chinese Portrait Artist
Introduced to China in the 17th Century, European-style oil paintings became highly popular
amongst the people of southern China, and the Manchu emperors of the north. The tradition
continues to this day, as a trip to Shenzhen’s Dafen Oil Painting Village confirms.
A Manchu Bride
This Manchu bride is pictured in full wedding regalia. “Hong Kong is
very creative,” says Yao. “I want young Hong Kong people to come and be
inspired by the jewelry and the clothes of the men and women.”
