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
In the long river of history, each photograph is a whisper of time, lying quietly in a yellowed album, telling the story of the past.
Today, let us open this dusty book of memories and feel the customs and social changes of that era through those vague and clear images.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the rural houses in the Northeast can be seen to have some thatched roofs, which are not well protected from wind and snow in the cold and freezing northeast in winter, but they have no choice for the people who are living in distress.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty soldiers on duty stood guard, they wore robes and soap boots of the same color, and they all carried guns.
There is a simple grocery market in the vast black land of Northeast China, and there are many vendors in the market, and the one in the photo is still a thing that looks like a Western kaleidoscope, and the guests can see all kinds of interesting scenes when they sit on the bench and look in from the lens of this device.
I don't know if the Russian officer in this rickshaw is too heavy, or if he has to pursue a different pomp.
The ragged man can only say that the old society is a man-eating ghost, turning people into ghosts, treating ghosts as adults, the simple people are getting more and more miserable, and the corrupt officials and evil officials who loot the people's fat and ointment cross and nourish, the world is really unfair.
On the northeast streets of the old society, two little boys looked at the camera with big teeth and smiled, and both children were holding a large bamboo basket, which was actually filled with dung.
The street performers in the Northeast are all young men, some play the flute, some are erhu, some play allegro, and some do not hold musical instruments and shout music at the throat.
The noble ladies of the late Qing Dynasty, several Manchu women sat on the street, leisurely basking in the sun, unlike the poor people who struggled with survival every day, the rich and noble class were quiet all day long, and their faces were a little tranquil and indisputable.
A girl from a large family, wearing a silk vest shirt, sitting on a leather sofa, looks like a rich girl who has returned from abroad, combing a new style of women's hairstyle, and her body is also full of a strong bookish atmosphere.
The little boy who sells sugar gourds, the sugar gourd vendor more than a hundred years ago actually uses the same utensils as today's sugar gourd vendors, all of which are this kind of long wooden sticks with cotton cloth, and a woman who comes to buy sugar gourds with her little feet next to her, looks at her face is still a little girl, but her dress looks so vicissitudes.
Somewhere in the Northeast, there are artists performing on the stage of the teahouse, the girl is standing in the middle of the stage, beating a small drum about the same height as herself, next to an uncle sitting and playing the huqin, and there are a few little girls who don't know what they are doing.
The monkey artist and his monkey, when there are no guests watching, the monkey man and his monkey are more like a family that depends on each other, wandering alone for a long time, there is no intimate warm family, and only these smart and humane little monkeys can accompany them.
In the early morning of the Northeast market, these neatly stacked together are not firewood, but fish, in the winter of the Northeast, nature is a natural freezer, so in order to keep the fish fresh, often put them in the warehouse, naturally frozen like in the photo.
The sisters who set up a stall on the side of the road, but the photo is too old for us to see clearly what is on the stall, but we still feel embarrassed because of this scene.
On the frozen lake, a group of women squatted here to dig through the ice to get water to wash clothes, we can't believe how difficult the life of women was in that era, especially for women, long-term contact with these sub-zero ice, the loss of the body is irreversible.
A hundred years ago, Harbin had become the "base camp" of foreign people, from Russia, from Japan, and from Germany, and everyone coveted the fertile soil of Northeast China.
In the photo, there is a wooden signboard that reads "Hot Spring Open Place", and a man is leisurely soaking in the hot spring and enjoying this blessed natural hot spring.
On the farm in the northeast, the farmers are harvesting the dried grain at home, and the two mules next to them are also the labor partners of the farmer's uncle.
The shoemakers of the old society, in fact, in some small counties today, can still see this kind of simple shoemakers, they use very simple tools, but they can often repair the shoes as new, the so-called folk masters are like this.
Street fortune teller, in that era, feudal superstition was basically the consensus of the whole people, because few people received scientific education, everyone blindly followed the gods and ghosts, so a large number of feng shui masters came into being, they are often very proficient in the Book of Changes, will tell, look, approve fate, in fact, there are also some scientific principles.
A group photo of two Chinese and a foreigner, blocking the face, the foreigner next to him looks like a homeless man, the whole person is raunchy and sloppy, and the young man in the middle is neatly dressed and polite, and he is still holding a pen and paper in his hand to write and draw, looking like an intellectual.
The Russian who rode in the carriage, his "following the customs of the locals" can be said to have done a very good job, not only wearing Manchu-shaped clothes, but also sitting in the carriage of high-ranking officials and nobles, which looks basically the same as a big old man.
Traders who buy cigarettes, no matter what era they are in, selling cigarettes is definitely a profiteering business, looking at the stall is not big, but the boss can see that the oil and water are very sufficient, and smoking is a hobby that is difficult for Chinese people to quit.
In the old society, the troupe was a very common cultural group, they were stationed in various places to perform, and they had no fixed residence, and every time they went to a village, they would be warmly welcomed by the common people, because there was no entertainment at that time, and the only thing the people looked forward to was to listen to music.
Russian women and Japan women, the Russo-Japanese War was fought by these two countries in order to compete for rights and interests in Northeast China, and this kind of war of competing interests in a third party is a great trauma for our people in Northeast China.
A temple built on the edge of a river, surrounded by lush forests, is located in such a tranquil environment, and the monks must have lived an ordinary life without fighting with the world.
The children on the edge of the old city wall in the northeast, the four of them gathered together to spend time, and there was a big black dog sitting next to it, I don't know if it was sent by the parents to protect the safety of the children.
The bustling Harbin Street, compared with the barren and dilapidated countryside, is simply a heaven and an underground, the gap between the rich and the poor is reflected so intuitively, look at the lower right corner of the photo, there is also a string of English and Japanese.
A vermicelli making workshop, the boss is drying vermicelli outdoors, the status of vermicelli in the food of the Northeast is not unimportant, what pork stewed vermicelli, hodgepodge, there must be vermicelli in it.
The dentist in the old society, this is also the technical knowledge from the West, so the doctor will write "Western method filling" on the side of the billboard, but the dentist does not have a clinic, just set up a shop on the street.
The Orthodox church in Harbin, the Orthodox Church is the main denomination in Russia, in fact, it is also derived from Christianity, the architecture of the Orthodox church has a very strong Russian style, which is different from the Gothic architecture in Europe at a glance.
At the West City Gate of Shenyang, there are still people pulling rickshaws on the city tower, perhaps there are foreign tourists visiting the city tower, and many coachmen have seized the business opportunity to start the rickshaw business here.
The bustling city streets are full of people with horses, carts, walkers, and carts, and many of them are vendors who come to the city to do business.
In that era, being an official was no longer for the people's livelihood, but for power, for money, and for the sake of looting the people's fat and cream.
The Northeast Railway Guards, probably similar to today's train guards, are probably also a system that came from the West, and these guards wear Western round hats, but they still have long braids, which looks very unorthodox.
The tobacco opened by foreigners, Western-style architecture, Western-style operation mode, and the opening of factories have basically become another fresh way for Western powers to come to China to search for benefits.
The horse-drawn train looks real and nondescript, and there are railroad tracks built underneath, what is the difference between it and a traditional horse-drawn carriage?
The bustling commercial street, on both sides of which are all kinds of shops, such as "Neijinsheng", "Yonghetang Pharmacy", and "Leather Boot Factory" with various Western boots, this kind of signboard design is not outdated today, it can be said that it is very "modern", pedestrians come and go on the road, and some foreigners also love to come here to shop.
With the changes of the times, the memories of Northeast China in the old society have gradually faded out of people's sight, but the historical memory and cultural value they carry are immeasurable.
Old photos are like windows, allowing us to get a glimpse of the true appearance of that era, and feel the joys, sorrows, sorrows, and feelings of the people of Northeast China in that era.
Today, when we gaze at these photos again, it is not only a review of the past, but also a reflection on the future, inspiring us to continue to inherit and carry forward the perseverance and optimism of the Northeast spirit in the journey of the new era.