China on the Eve of Revolution: Late Qing Photograph Archive of Public Execution, Military Authority, Foreign Presence, Imperial Peking, and the Colonial Philippines, 32 Photographs, circa 1910

Late Qing China Colonial Philippines

Photograph

Late Qing China and Philippines photo archive depicting military authority, public punishment, foreign presence, and imperial architecture circa 1910, in the years immediately before the Xinhai Revolution ended dynastic rule in China. The Chinese photographs show Beijing monuments, urban crowds, soldiers, execution spectators, and foreign personnel at a moment when Qing authority remained visible but unstable. The group places tourist views of imperial architecture beside scenes of coercion and military order, linking travel photography to the political crisis of the late Qing state.

Photo archive of 32 silver gelatin photographs, each 2.5 x 4.25 inches cornered in on 11 x 13.5 inch brown album leaves, mainly China with several Philippines views, circa 1910. The images show Beijing landmarks including the Temple of Heaven, palace buildings, imperial gates, stone lions, carved walls, ceremonial terraces, walled compounds, and garden architecture. Several views show Chinese crowds gathered near military or judicial scenes, including a public execution aftermath with a severed head displayed from a pole before laughing onlookers and children with a placard stating the events transpired. Other photographs show Chinese soldiers and civilians in open grounds, foreign military or naval personnel, a group of men in white naval style uniforms seated in a circle, Chinese junks, harbor traffic, street scenes, rickshaws, and colonial buildings. The Philippines photographs appear to include Manila street and harbor views, a woman and girl, a domed theater or civic building, tropical shoreline, and American colonial urban scenes.

China in 1910 stood between the punitive settlement that followed the Boxer Rebellion and the republican revolution that began in Wuchang in October 1911. Foreign troops remained in North China under treaty rights, imperial and provincial authorities tried to preserve order through policing, army reform, and public punishment, and revolutionary societies used anti Manchu and anti foreign resentment to attack the legitimacy of Qing rule. The execution photographs show law as spectacle, with the punished body displayed before civilians and soldiers rather than hidden within prison administration. The Beijing views record the ceremonial architecture of the dynasty at the same time that its political power was nearing collapse, while the Philippines views place China within a wider American and European imperial geography of ports, garrisons, and colonial travel. Light surface wear, toning, and occasional fading; mounted with photo corners on album leaves. Overall very good condition. A concentrated visual record of military order, public punishment, foreign presence, and imperial space in East Asia immediately before the fall of the Qing dynasty.

Item #23590

Price: $650.00