Entitled: qing court return 1902 the empress dowager [1902] ge morrison. I did the usual spotting, contrast adjustment, and sepia tone. George ernest morrison was certainly not the only western photographer of imperial china, but he was definitely one of the most remembered. The bulk of his extensive body of work in albums and photographs have survived to this day. One of his best works, an australian in china can be easily net accessed and remains a delightful invitation to late 1800's china. Additionally, his personal library holdings of books that he collected in china subsequently became the basis of the oriental library of tokyo (otherwise known as tōyō bunko 東洋文庫) one the world's five largest and premiere libraries on chinese culture. What is even more important, and perhaps lesser appreciated, is that morrison, a trained medical doctor but then working as a journalist, also happened to be in the right place at the right time. He personally witnessed and recorded many of the images of the tumult during the boxer rebellion, as he too was trapped within the peking foreign legations during their nearly two month holdout. Though he had begun the siege as only a correspondent for the times newspaper; by his directness, force of personality and natural leadership ability, morrison became an active and commanding participant in the defense of the legation quarter. Wounded in battle, had he been officially in uniform, his bravery and actions would have certainly merited commendation or military award. This is a fascinating and perhaps rare and unique photograph. For those that don't remember the story of the boxer rebellion; suffice it to say that the qing court, in 1900, after it's defeat by foreign troops, fled beijing (then called peking) into the interior of china. Once it was firmly established that the foreign governments were willing to allow the manchu emperor to return without fear of reprisal (as the foreign powers needed someone local, but servile, to be in charge of the populace) the qing court re-ensconced itself back into the imperial city with pompous celebration. Morrison was on hand to record the parade of qing royals and their "triumphant" return into the chinese capital from their supposed 'inspection tour' of the countryside. In accordance with ceremonial pomp, all militaries around the world have traditional postures or stances, to signal their respect for an honored dignitary or a high official. In this case, the imperial soldiers were saluting the passing of the empress dowager's sedan chair. What is so interesting about this photograph then, is the western military posture of 'present arms' (holding a rifle in front of one's self in the vertical position) combined with the typical chinese or asian posture of genuflection (at the bended knee) displayed by the qing troops lining the road. The soldier in the foreground, whose legs are concealed, does not readily reveal this, however if one examines more closely the troops (across the road) beyond the haze of road dust, one can clearly see saluting chinese soldiers on their knees. This curious amalgam of western and eastern military etiquette was probably short lived, and in many ways was perhaps emblematic of the dilemma and indecisiveness of qing china. That is, they were eager to adopt the many new things of the west, but were still reluctant to discard the trappings and traditions of the old. In all my years of looking at military images, i can't recall ever having seen another instance where soldiers presented a salute with both western style and eastern style honors combined. A remarkable and striking photograph. Date: 1902.
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