


This exhibition, organised by the 'Historical Photographs of China Project', and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council with sponsorship from John Swire & Sons Ltd., showcases photographs of life in China before 1950 in the possession of families or descendants of Chinese and British men and women who formerly lived there. Lodged away in attics and cupboards, these images include snapshots of expatriate social life, scenes of everyday Chinese life, and records of momentous political events. Altogether they form a unique virtual archive for China, where wars and revolutions inflicted great damage on the sites and ways of life recorded, and destroyed much of the stock of historic visual and other records. Taken together the photographs provide many glimpses of the lost Chinese past, and telling evidence of the complex intimacy of British relations with China before 1950.
ADMISSION: Opening and closing times tbc