Views of the World, Across the Lake From Island, Peking, China

At the end of The Second Opium War, a joint Anglo-French force, under the leadership of James Bruce the 8th Earl of Elgin, High Commissioner to China, burned and looted the old and new Summer palaces just outside the city walls of Peking.  James Bruce's father was Thomas Bruce, the 7th Earl of Elgin, the man who looted the marble friezes from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.  I guess vandalism ran in the family.

Peking is now known as Beijing, and means northern capital.

I've got three more cards in this series, but I'm going to hold off on posting them for another month or so.  Click on Views of the World in labels to see other cards in the series.

Views of the World, General View of Canton, China

We'll be staying in China for a bit.  Canton is actually the city of Guangzhou.  Canton was a name used by European traders and likely comes from the Portuguese.  The Canton System was an attempt by the Chinese government to limit contact with the European colonial powers that funneled all trade through the city.  There were thirteen factories, not places of manufacture, but foreign quarters built outside the city walls for the use of the various western trading interests.  The Canton System ended in 1842 with the Treaty of Nanking, now Nanjing, which ended The First Opium War.  In addition to opening up a number of other Chinese ports for trade, it also  required the Chinese government to pay all the costs of being invaded.

As always, click on Views of the World in labels at the bottom of the post to see other cards int he collection.

Views of the World, Nankin Road, Shanghai, China

It's time to return to The First Opium War.  In addition to their acquisition of Hong Kong, the British also secured a number of concessions, essentially giving them control over a number of port cities, including Shanghai.  Eventually, a number of other countries, including France, the United States, Japan, Germany,  Russia, Norway, and even The Congo Free State got their fingers in the pie, getting  concessions of their own.  Shanghai itself would have three main foreign enclaves controlled by Britain, France, and the U.S.  What's really amazing, the foreign concessions all had extraterritorial status. Essentially, they were all exempt from Chinese law.

Today, Shanghai is, by population, the largest city in the world.

Click on Views of the World in labels to see other cards in the series.

Views of the World, Harbor of Hong Kong, China

For those of you who were waiting for a continuation of this series, you are in luck.  Views of the World (Click in labels for the others.) is back!

Anyway, I'm not going to go into too much detail about the history of Hong Kong.  There's plenty of info available on line, and quite frankly, it would take way too long to type it all up.  In a nutshell, Hong Kong Island wasn't much until the First Opium War.  The freebooters of The British East India Company were making lots of cash addicting the people of China to opium.  When the Chinese Emperor objected to seeing his people all zoned out, and decided to end the opium trade, the British invaded, won, and forced China to cede the island to them in perpetuity.  After the Second Opium War, the Brits added the Kowloon Peninsula to their colonial empire.  In the end, China wanted it's territory back, England wasn't in a position to stop a takeover by force, so, after all the diplomatic niceties were observed, China got it's land back.  Technically, the Chinese dictatorship is supposed to recognize the democratic rights of Hong Kong's citizens, but that's an iffy thing.

Views of the World, Imperial Mausoleum Mukden, Manchuria

It's time to return to The Views of the World postcard collection.  I promise, done by the new year.

Manchuria is an area in northeast China.  Mukden, now known as Shenyang, was the imperial seat of the Qing Dynasty.  The imeprial mausoleum is in Dongling Park, and is the final resting place of Nurlach and Xiaoci Gao Yehenala, Emperor and Empress of Manchuria from 1559-1626.  Nice stone elephant.

Click on Views of the World in labels to bring up other cards in the series.

The Epworth League Album 24, The Exotic East

Now, when we think of China we think of an economic competitor. When these pictures were taken, China was thought of as the exotic east; jade idols, dragon ladies and opium dens. Who thinks of a little girl and kittens? As valid an image as any.

Chinatown, Los Angeles

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A color postcard, printed in the front margins, "DETROIT PHOTOGRAPHIC CO., PUBLISHERS." and, "7343. ARE THE POLICE COMING?" The Detroit Photographic Company made it's first appearance in the city registry in 1888. It was a provider of photographic images for advertising and publishing purposes. In 1897, under the leadership of partners, William A. Livingston, Jr., and Edwin H. Husher, the Detroit Photographic Company acquired exclusive North American rights to the photochrom process, a photolithography method that allowed for mass printings of color postcards from original black and white photographs. In 1905, the company changed it's name to the Detroit Publishing Company. For more information on the company's acquisition of the photochrom process go to www.photochrom.com/Detroit.html At http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/digitallibrary/america.html I found an image from the Detroit Photographic Company catalog of children in Chinatown in Los Angeles that seems to be a different angle of the same location. The Detroit Photographic Company declared bankruptcy in 1924 and it's assets were liquidated in 1932.