Why is it hard to take photos in the late Qing Dynasty?

In A.D. 1840, photography was introduced to the Qing Dynasty from Europe, but it was not well treated.

First of all, people think that cameras are like magic bottles in the hands of monsters, which can take people's souls and make them die within two months, and photographers become evil monsters. Secondly, since the1860s, there has been a folk saying that foreign photographers buy children from China and then gouge out their eyes to make medicine for taking pictures.

Couples in the late Qing Dynasty photographed by British photographer john thompson. In this case, photographers were naturally not welcome in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China. When they meet foreign photographers who come to China to shoot, they are often as nervous as a wolf with money, and will inevitably be greeted by violence.

1872, john thompson, a British photographer who traveled to the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, was besieged by villagers in a remote village. When I arrived in Chaozhou, Guangdong, I fled hastily and lost my lens cover under the siege of the local people.

Thomson recalled his filming experience in the Qing Dynasty and said, "The superstitions of China people made me suspicious. People have thrown stones at me more than once or treated me in various other rude ways. "

Another British photographer, David Griffith, worked in China for 25 years and visited more than a dozen cities in the north and south of China. He described the difficulties he encountered in the filming process:

"I once had such an experience that the luggage rack on the road was smashed, the hired coolie was beaten, and the camera was smashed; China people threw stones at me, but fortunately, I was able to escape because they were afraid of foreigners. "

What happened to Thomson and Griffith was universal in the late Qing Dynasty. In order to alleviate people's anger, it is often necessary to pay a sum of money when taking pictures. In fact, not only foreign photographers, but also China photographers are in a worse situation. The local photographers in the late Qing Dynasty were not large, such as Li Fang, Liang Shitai and Zhou Senfeng. It started relatively late, and only in the1860s did it have a solid working record.

Local photographers and their photo studios can hardly stand on their own land, so they have to move their photo studios to the concession. In the late Qing Dynasty, people were a little afraid to meet foreign photographers, but they were still able to go easy on them. They have no scruples about their compatriots.

According to Griffith's observation of his counterparts in China, "some Guangdong photographers want to expand their business to big cities and towns in the mainland, but because mainlanders are very disgusted with photography, they always interfere with taking pictures and even threaten the lives of photographers, so they have to cancel the plan in the end."

When photography was first invented, people all over the world were afraid of it. With its popularity, people gradually relieved their vigilance and accepted it. However, in the late Qing Dynasty, even after the demise of the Qing Dynasty, superstitions and rumors about cameras still existed, which undoubtedly hindered the popularization of photography in China.

References:

Terry Bennett's Photographic History of China, and john thompson's Images of China and China.