A hundred years ago, photos of the Qing Dynasty taken by French photographers were exposed. How did you feel when you saw them?

The Qing dynasty is probably the dynasty that we modern people are most familiar with, because we see TV dramas related to the Qing dynasty on TV every day; The Qing Dynasty is also the dynasty we are least familiar with, because our understanding of history of qing dynasty is basically covered by the Qing Palace drama. In our impression, the Qing Dynasty is like this: wise SHEN WOO Kangxi, addicted to his wife's madness, thrifty Jiaqing, romantic and affectionate Tongzhi, kind and kind Puyi. ...

So, what was it like when the Qing Dynasty entered the customs from 1644? Aside from the history and manual records of the Qing Dynasty, perhaps it is the most authentic to look at the old photos of the Qing Dynasty taken by foreigners at that time. Because the photos at that time were unattractive and difficult to fake, what we saw was what we looked like. Through these old photos, we can restore the A Qing dynasty which is completely different from TV series.

As we all know, according to the records in the Draft of the History of Qing Dynasty written by the Qing people, there were no bad emperors in the Qing Dynasty after entering the customs from 65438 to 0644, such as Kangxi, who unified the whole country and studied mathematics, Yongzheng, who severely punished corruption, and Qianlong, one of the top ten military commanders, especially in the hands of Kangxi Qianlong, which produced a "prosperous era of kanggan". Among them, Qianlong lived to 1796, only 44 years after the outbreak of the Opium War.

That is to say, according to the draft of the Qing Dynasty, before and after the Opium War, the people of the Qing Dynasty should still be bathed in the glory of "prosperity and prosperity", and even if the people are not well off, there should still be some "heritage" of "prosperity and prosperity". So, what was the life of the Qing people at that time? Is the prosperity of Kanggan really as beautiful as recorded in historical records? Let's take a look at the old photos of the Qing Dynasty taken by the French more than 0/00 years ago.

First of all, let's look at the social outlook of the Qing people at that time. In this photo, we can clearly see that the old houses in Qing Dynasty are very short houses with unclear materials. It seems to be a mud wall with a thatched roof. I don't know whether it is because of the quality of the camera or because of the weather at that time. The sky looks dark and depressing.

There are two adults and four children in the photo. Both adults and children are thinner. The child can't see clearly, but it is obvious that the posture is very afraid of the "foreigner" who takes pictures. One child was hiding behind his mother in fear, pulling her clothes, and the other children spread out in alarm, staring at the French taking pictures, as if ready to deal with emergencies at any time.

Around the house looks messy, with all kinds of weeds, and the back of the house looks like a barren weed, maybe in winter, there is no food and crops planted around it. All in all, this photo gives people a depressing feeling, as if there is no "legacy" of "prosperous times", and there is no such thing as "different people have different opinions" in the Qing Palace drama in the TV series, but fortunately, this photo looks normal.

The second photo is strange. Look at this photo, there are many people gathered here, and all kinds of "advertisements" are posted on the door, which should be regarded as a relatively prosperous city or market. But there seems to be not many people in the market. Even if a few people are standing or sitting outside, they are extremely wary of this Frenchman who comes to take pictures. More people hid in the house and then leaned out to observe the French taking pictures.

What are they afraid of? We don't know. However, the overall feeling of this photo is very formal, and several people in the deserted street are highly wary of the French who took the photo. What are they wary of? Maybe I thought of some terrible legends about foreigners in Guangdong and other places during the Opium War, or I was very afraid of the camera because many people said it would suck people's souls.

In the third old photo of the Qing dynasty, we can easily see the specific image and mental outlook of the Qing people at that time. This photo was taken very close, and there were four people in it. These four people's eyes are a little abnormal, especially the second white man on the right. His white robe is worn out and looks dirty. There seems to be a feeling of "dying" in his eyes and a stick in his hand-is this to prevent the French from suddenly getting ready and fighting hard?

The man on the far left is numb and frowning. The whole person has no spirit and his head is crooked. He is wearing a black jacket, and his clothes look a lot of oil. Seeing this, I can't help thinking, why are these four Qing people willing to take pictures of the French? It is likely that the French gave them a small sum of money, and they "risked their lives" to do it.

This can explain why the four people in the photo look so wonderful. There are two people hiding behind, and their eyes are numb and listless. The clothes of the man on the far right are also very chic, as if they were wrapped in several strips of cloth, and they look very worn. This photo makes us very disappointed. This "prosperous time of Kanggan" has only passed about 50 years: is this also a prosperous time?

The fourth old photo of the Qing Dynasty, let's look at a bride of the Qing Dynasty. The house in this photo looks a little festive because of the wedding. According to the custom at that time, festive couplets were posted on doors and walls, giving people a feeling of jubilation. There are two flowers around the bride, which look fresher. This family should be relatively rich at that time!

However, when the bride's wedding night came, her face didn't look any festive color. She held a folding fan to her chest-maybe to cover her face, or maybe the French photographer stopped her, so the whole expression didn't look particularly natural. Her eyes even looked at the ground or the folding fan. She didn't really want to see the Frenchman and the camera in his hand.

I have to say that TV plays are very different from real history. After reading these photos, we even have some doubts: Is "Kanggan Prosperity" really a prosperous time? If the prosperity of Kanggan is the real prosperity, why did the Qing society and people become so numb, desolate and barren in less than 50 years?