Text/Bureau of Knowledge of Everything
All of the information stated in this article is based on reliable sources of information and is detailed at the end of the article
Although these old photos are far away from our time, they have witnessed the wheel of historical development. In the late Qing Dynasty, China was in the midst of internal and external troubles, and due to the violation of China's sovereignty, China was once reduced to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society.
During the late Qing Dynasty, the political power of the Qing Dynasty in China gradually declined, and at the same time, Western culture intervened as the Opium Wars affected China.
In terms of culture, there has been a fusion of traditional Chinese culture and Western culture, and in social life, whether it is clothing, food, housing or transportation, it has changed.
The old photos below are all real scenes taken in the late Qing Dynasty. There is a saying that I think is particularly good, that is, there are two sides to everything.
Although the invasion of foreign invading forces has had an impact on the lives of ordinary people under the rule of the Qing government in China, it has also changed the adverse effects of China's long-term isolation from the country, and at the same time, China has begun to try to safeguard the interests of the country in a civilized and rational way.
When Cixi was young, it can be said that she was favored by Emperor Xianfeng, and of course this also benefited from the beauty of Cixi herself.
When Cixi was young, how beautiful and moving she was is is unknown to modern people, but the following photo, with the help of restoration technology, allows us to see the true face of Cixi again.
Eighteen-year-old Cixi, in terms of appearance, is not much worse than modern women, especially her posture and slightly plump figure, which made Emperor Xianfeng want to stop. It was Cixi's beauty that overshadowed Xianfeng's harem.
In the photo below, two workers on the dock are taking care of each other, and one of the workers is treating an injured worker.
Judging from the pictures, it may be something like some ointment to relieve the pain in the chest.
In the late Qing Dynasty, as ordinary people, they had no money to go to the doctor, and in order to live better, ordinary people also had their own tricks.
The photo below shows a street vendor who has pork to sell in his shackles, and at the same time, in order to make the pork better sold, they usually choose to sell it in the town, because there are more wealthy people here.
After the defeat of the Opium War, the Qing government began to pay reparations for the cession of land, and this reparations lasted for decades from the beginning to the end, until 1938, when the compensation ended.
The Qing government had been corrupt and extravagant for a long time, and if they wanted to make them pay compensation, they naturally exploited the common people, and finally made the lives of ordinary people even more difficult.
The photo below shows some laborers who have finished working as coolies, and in some remote rural areas, they usually work in rich people's homes, in addition to farming, in order to earn more money for their families, they will also do some brick carrying work in their spare time.
Outside an earthen house, there is a woman spinning thread, and in some poor people's homes, she will also use this way to earn some small money to supplement her own family.
In the late Qing Dynasty, it was very common for women to bind their feet, and judging from the pictures, this woman also had small feet.
Women's foot binding was a very important thing in ancient times, if a pair of big feet grow, it would be a shameful thing for the husband's family, and it would even affect the girl's marriage. Especially for large families, girls must have to bind their feet since they were young.
The custom of foot binding, in addition to being related to the aesthetics of the time, actually had another purpose, which was to prevent women from going out more, and women with small feet naturally rarely went out.
When women are very young, they wrap a piece of white cloth around their feet tightly, and this kind of pain can be said to have caused physical and psychological damage to women.
The following photo is a middle-aged man who seems to have a good family background, eating at a small vendor, and this shot was taken by a person with a camera.
Under this lens, we can fully see that at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the gap between the rich and the poor was still very large.
The following photo is a very famous place in the capital, the corner tower of the capital, when in the period of the Eight-Nation Alliance, due to the invasion of the great powers, the corner tower was seriously damaged.
From the photos, we can also clearly see that the parts of the doors and windows of the corner tower have become empty one by one.
The Qing government's inability to repair it made the corner tower so dilapidated. In front of the corner tower is a camel caravan, and although it is said that it is a sunny day, it is even more bleak to see.
At this time, the Qing Dynasty may never be able to return to its previous prosperity, and it has really gone to extinction.
Now the tea sellers, is no longer the current one, walking in the mall, a tea seller boss, sitting in front of the coffee table, leisurely with a variety of tea sets, of course, this is a modern scene, back to more than a hundred years ago in the late Qing Dynasty, the tea sellers at that time, is quite pitiful.
The following photo is two tea sellers, I saw that they were carrying hundreds of pounds of tea leaves, and due to the long-term weight on their legs, they had already begun to deform.
The photo below is a corner of the stall business in the late Qing Dynasty, walking on the street, there are stalls selling wontons, there are stalls selling fruits and vegetables, and of course the most popular, there is also this stall with shaving heads.
Now the barber shop should at least have a luxurious decoration, a few chairs that can be lifted and lowered, and a few large mirrors.
In the late Qing Dynasty, the barber booth naturally did not have the standard configuration of modern society, a razor, plus a basin of hot water, can help guests dress up refreshing and comfortable.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, every time mainland officials went to the countryside to inspect, they rode horses, and in the Western countries at that time, they had already driven cars, it seems that the Qing government and Western countries at this time, the gap is not a little bit, the Qing government thinks that it is very strong, but in fact, it has already become the laughing stock of Western countries.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, wherever you went, you could see opium smokers everywhere, up to the officials and nobles, down to the poor people, from which we can see the influence of opium on the Chinese.
After the Opium War was launched by the British, countless people in China became addicts and even destroyed countless families.
In fact, in an earlier period, opium had already spread to China, but at that time, the scale was not large, and the second was that there were not many people who could afford it, until the end of the Qing Dynasty, the British wantonly poured opium into the Chinese market, and as the Qing government, under pressure, did not dare to vigorously suppress it.
Britain completed the Industrial Revolution and had a relatively powerful navy, and although China was said to be a large country with a lot of resources, it was still in the agricultural age, so there was a huge contrast between the two countries.
Britain is for its own interests, while China is for the sake of safeguarding its own national sovereignty.
The widespread spread of opium finally made the Qing government revolt, so the Opium War occurred, which was also the main cause of the Opium War.
The First Opium War was inevitably a defeat for China, and at the same time China was also dealt a serious blow, but despite this, it also promoted the development of China's modern history at a certain level, and at the same time made people realize that China needed to reform and could no longer remain the same.
In modern society, even if you break the law, you still pay attention to human rights, but in ancient society, once you break the law, you will be punished quite severely, even if you make a small mistake, you are likely to be punished more cruelly.
In many TV dramas, we often see the scene of being hit by a board, imagine that the board is made of a wide wooden board, if it is hit on the buttocks, it will open the skin and flesh at the lightest, and at the worst it will be beaten to death. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, playing the board was still a lighter punishment.
In this picture, we can clearly see that the prisoners are tied to the wooden frame, and the wooden frame is placed diagonally, and their bodies should also be tilted.
The photo below shows the prisoners in the Gutian case who are about to be sentenced to death, and they are about to face beheading.
In fact, in ancient punishments, beheading was a relatively simple death sentence, such as Ling Chi, and it was the real horror, after all, beheading almost did not feel pain.
The following photo shows a prisoner who is about to be executed at the entrance of the vegetable market, why is the execution in such a lively place? Do you also have such questions?
In fact, this is mainly to serve as a deterrent, so that the common people will not dare to be too presumptuous, and the Qing government is also out of its own rule.
In many TV dramas, you have heard the phrase "beheading after the autumn", which is actually a Qing Dynasty execution system, that is, death row prisoners are generally tried in the spring, and in the autumn, they will be beheaded.
The first Opium War, China's defeat, that is, during that period, China's gradual loss of sovereignty, coupled with the severe impact on China's economy, the life of the common people was miserable, and these photographs fully reflect the current situation of this period: poverty, ignorance, cruelty, and insensitivity between people.
The end of the Qing Dynasty was like purgatory on earth, and at the same time, history was also a mirror, reminding us that if we fall behind, we will be beaten.