Show offers glimpse into Qing-dynasty China and Hong Kong 145 years ago
Scottish adventurer John Thomson lugged his bulky wooden camera around Hong Kong and Qing-dynasty China, recording rare images
Accompanying the local images are snapshots of everyday life in Qing-dynasty China, captured during Thomson's extensive travels to Guangdong, Fujian , Beijing and the northeast.
He also journeyed down the great river Yangtze, the world's third-longest, reaching remote, barely populated regions inland.
"What makes Thomson significantly stand out from other photographers in the century is not that he made early trips to the Far East, but that he was able to photograph women and children in these relatively closed societies," said Betty Yao Yung-pei, a Hong Kong-born, London-based curator who organised the exhibition.
"In fact, most of the people he encountered had never seen a Westerner or a camera before."
The show at the Maritime Museum features 81 images taken by Thomson between 1868 and 1872, including 22 of Hong Kong.
The Edinburgh-born photographer first ventured out to the Far East in 1862.