In Retrospect: The Early Chinese Photography Collection of Moonchu Foundation

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The Moonchu Foundation has generously donated more than 24,000 invaluable images in its Chinese photography collection to the Hong Kong Museum of History. Mostly taken in the late Qing and early Republican period, the photographs feature a wide range of contents and subject matters. They form a rare and comprehensive collection of Chinese photography.

The exhibition showcases over 500 selected pieces from the Moonchu Collection of Chinese Photography, covering major historical events in China during the Qing dynasty, such as the Second Opium War, the Self-Strengthening Movement, the First Sino-Japanese War, the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance and the Russo-Japanese War among others. There are also photographs depicting the urban landscapes, historic buildings and people’s livelihood in the late Qing dynasty and early Republican period, as well as specimens of different photographic materials and formats which reflect the development of early photography. Among the exhibits is one of the earliest photographs of China in existence today, taken 180 years ago, the signature works of iconic Chinese and foreign photographers, glass negatives, stereoscopic photographs, hand-coloured photographs and more. The images of China on display depict the country from micro and macro perspectives. They are excellent materials for understanding the face of China a century ago.

This exhibition is one of the events in the 4th Guangdong – Hong Kong – Macao Greater Bay Area Culture and Arts Festival and also the Chinese Culture Promotion Series. The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has long been promoting Chinese history and culture through organising an array of programmes and activities to enable the public to learn more about the broad and profound Chinese culture.