This chapter evaluates the role of photography in witnessing the modernising process in China during the late Qing period and conflicts which stemmed from it. The camera, introduced in China during the First Opium War (1839–1842), allowed Western eyes to record the establishment of trade routes and associated facilities. The photos examined here were taken immediately before and during the Russo-Japanese War. The photographs appear to have been focusing on technological developments in trade infrastructure, but they also captured the conspicuous Japanese and Russian military presence. Consequently, the photographs reveal the Western role in the “development” of China by its incorporation into global trading networks and violent conflicts fought over control of this infrastructure.
Queen's University Belfast, United Kingdom - ORCID: 0000-0003-3948-3612
Chapter Title
Captured Glimpses of Modernity and War in Late Qing China
Authors
Aglaia De Angeli
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0242-8.11
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2023
Copyright Information
© 2023 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
East and West Entangled (17th-21st Centuries)
Editors
Rolando Minuti, Giovanni Tarantino
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
228
Publication Year
2023
Copyright Information
© 2023 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0242-8
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0241-1
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0242-8
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-0243-5
Series Title
Connessioni. Studies in Transcultural History
Series ISSN
2975-0393
Series E-ISSN
2975-0261