Xiamen is a beautiful tourist destination, with a unique cultural landscape that is intoxicating and can bring people a beautiful experience all year round. Do you know what Xiamen was like 150 years ago? Through a set of old photographs, we travel to Xiamen in 1871. Photographer: John Thomson.
John Thomson with two Xiamen soldiers.
After the First Opium War, the Qing court was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing with Britain, with Xiamen becoming one of the five treaty ports and Gulangyu Island becoming the "Concession of All Nations". Since then, Xiamen has embarked on the road of modernization and its foreign trade has been very active.
Photographing Xiamen Island at Deer Ear Reef on Gulangyu Island.
The boulder standing in front of us is Deer Ear Reef on Gulangyu Island, which the local people regard as a protective stone that can influence the fate of Xiamen. They believe that if the stone falls, Xiamen will also suffer disasters, so every year people will strengthen the base of the reef to prevent it from being washed by the tide.
Two women chatted.
The woman on the right had a plaster on her temple, and she was telling her sister across from her how her headache had made her miserable and how useful the plaster the doctor had given her was. After the plaster was removed, she would put it on the doctor's door, indicating that it had indeed alleviated her illness.
Two men and a woman.
The two men in the turbans were hard laborers, frugal and gritty qualities that made their lives quite passable. As long as they stay away from the smokehouses and casinos, in a few years, they can accumulate a sum of money, enough to go back to their hometown to buy a piece of land or a boat.
The Nursery, inhabited by 10 abandoned girls.
In Fujian in the late Qing Dynasty, the phenomenon of infanticide still existed, and the people who suffered from this misfortune were naturally female infants. Some gentry or wealthy merchants in Xiamen raised funds to set up nursery schools and adopted baby girls to reduce the occurrence of tragedies. Parents send baby girls over and get a reward of 5p. Well-wishers can also come here to adopt a child, but prove that they have a good reputation and can really raise the child as an adult.
A couple.
In front of outsiders, husband and wife will not sit next to each other and look at each other affectionately, feeling embarrassed by each other. John Thomson arranged for them to sit together and let them look at each other, but the husband showed a shy expression, embarrassed to look at his wife, and looked away. Judging from the dress code, the living conditions of their family are above medium.
Xiamen Port "typing stone characters".
"Typing stone characters", also known as the Apocalypse Stone, was once the distinctive geographical coordinates of Xiamen Port. The inscription on the reef records the construction of forts by the Xiamen defenders during the Ming Dynasty's apocalypse, the defense against wokou and the "red hair" (Dutch). Somehow, today's "typing stones" has disappeared.
Xiamen Shuixian Palace and private residences.
The Size of the Narcissus Palace is not large, built next to a boulder, which enshrines Da Yu, Wu Zixu, Qu Yuan, Chu Bawang, Gong Yuzi and other daffodils, fishermen and sailors often come here to worship, and the incense is exuberant. The words "Water and Sky Are One Color" are faintly visible on the boulder, because standing on it can see the sea. Narcissus Palace is surrounded by private houses.
Street workers.
One carries a food box, the other carries a load of firewood. The former should sell snacks, and the latter should sell fuel.
Collect the clay pots of the deceased.
In ancient times, burying the deceased in clay pots or urns was a common custom that may have symbolic significance and help the soul of the deceased to immortalize and reincarnate early. Of course, there is also a saying that poor families cannot afford to buy coffins and can only use rudimentary pottery to bury the dead.