Take a glimpse of Qing dynasty China through the lensaoji

Editor's note: This series of photos were taken by Thomas Child who was born in Shropshire, the UK, in 1841. In May of 1870, at 29 years old, Child was hired by the Imperial Maritime Customs Service for the post of gas engineer in Peking (Beijing), China. He brought his camera and photographic equipment with him to Peking. While a resident in China, Child created the earliest comprehensive photographic survey of Peking and its surroundings.

In the 1870s, Child took nearly 200 photographs of the ancient city, offering some of the earliest photographic records of Chinese architecture and life in late Qing dynasty Peking.

An exhibition titled Qing Dynasty Peking: Thomas Child's Photographs is open to the public from Sept 23 to Oct 25 at Sidney Mishkin Gallery in New York.

In this photograph Child documents the ancient Chinese custom of the bridal sedan chair. The bridal chair Child photographed is extravagantly decorated. Bridal chairs were used to carry the bride for a wedding. The bride would sit inside of the chair on her journey to meet the man she was to marry. [Photo provided by Stephan Loewentheil Historical Photography of China Collection]