My back large father was in China in 1903 for the construction of Yunnan's Railway.
I took many nice photographs of this country and their people.
Other slides on www.fleuverouge.fr in few days.
http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/639/chinea905tg2.jpg
http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/8946/chinea036ts2.jpg
http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/2456/chined16102bm0.jpg
http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/4302/chinea932dr2.jpg
http://img452.imageshack.us/img452/8153/chinec26160zf3.jpg
Full Version: Photographs of Yunnan in 1900's
looks to be interesting 
I think these photos are invaluable.
I think these photos are invaluable.
thanks so much for sharing...
that rail road looks more like a roller coaster to me.
that rail road looks more like a roller coaster to me.
QUOTE(naruwan @ May 24 2007, 09:05 AM) [snapback]4890156[/snapback]
that rail road looks more like a roller coaster to me.
I think it was a metric gauge railroad (tracks one metre apart), much smaller than the usual standard (close to 1.5 m), hence the toy look. This one metre gauge was relatively common in France (and other countries) in the late 19th century and early 20th, many local railway lines used it (some of them are still extent). It was used a lot in colonies and in mountain places, as narrower tracks made the construction of the line easier. Interestingly, the metric gauge remained the norm in a large part of Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, still use it (and there are a number of metric lines in China).
Francois
QUOTE(fcharton @ May 24 2007, 01:25 AM) [snapback]4890167[/snapback]
I think it was a metric gauge railroad (tracks one metre apart), much smaller than the usual standard (close to 1.5 m), hence the toy look. This one metre gauge was relatively common in France (and other countries) in the late 19th century and early 20th, many local railway lines used it (some of them are still extent). It was used a lot in colonies and in mountain places, as narrower tracks made the construction of the line easier. Interestingly, the metric gauge remained the norm in a large part of Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, still use it (and there are a number of metric lines in China).
Francois
Francois
actually the entire Taiwan rail system is narrow guage... (except high speed rail/metros)
the rail road in the picture is so high above the ground level it is pretty scary looking. Wonder why it needs to be all the way up there when there are houses right below.
QUOTE(naruwan @ May 24 2007, 04:23 PM) [snapback]4890203[/snapback]
the rail road in the picture is so high above the ground level it is pretty scary looking. Wonder why it needs to be all the way up there when there are houses right below.
Probably because the valley is quite steep. Trains have difficulty climbing or going down steep slopes, so building a bridge over narrow valleys (and having the railroad high over them) is much easier than building a track which winds up and down (and digging a long tunnel was even worse at the time).
Also probably because the french loved these kind of metallic bridges (see Eiffel), there are quite a few such bridges in France, here's the most famous one (built in 1884...)
http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/addi..._viewer.cgi?712
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garabit_viaduct
QUOTE(fcharton @ May 24 2007, 09:25 AM) [snapback]4890204[/snapback]
Probably because the valley is quite steep. Trains have difficulty climbing or going down steep slopes, so building a bridge over narrow valleys (and having the railroad high over them) is much easier than building a track which winds up and down (and digging a long tunnel was even worse at the time).
Also probably because the french loved these kind of metallic bridges (see Eiffel), there are quite a few such bridges in France, here's the most famous one (built in 1884...)
http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/addi..._viewer.cgi?712
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garabit_viaduct
Also probably because the french loved these kind of metallic bridges (see Eiffel), there are quite a few such bridges in France, here's the most famous one (built in 1884...)
http://www.greatbuildings.com/cgi-bin/addi..._viewer.cgi?712
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garabit_viaduct
Yes indeed, but Yunnan is so a moutain country.
Along the first 450 km in China, the railway goes throught 155 tunnels and 24 bridges and structures.
PS: mes salutations François, the french moderator
QUOTE(ralphrepo @ May 26 2007, 09:26 PM) [snapback]4890398[/snapback]
Normally copyright would be accorded automatically to the image creator (photographer) until death plus 50 years (IIRC). So these things should already be public domain. Am I right or wrong with this?
Hi Ralph,
In Europe, the public domain begin 70 years after the dead of the author. It 'll be the case this year.
QUOTE(ralphrepo @ May 26 2007, 09:26 PM) [snapback]4890398[/snapback]
...notice that the skin tone is rendered almost black. This was common with most orthochromatic black and white films of those days. The file emulsion was primarily only sensitive to the Blues and Greens of the spectrum, and reproduced Reds very poorly or not at all. This gave certain skin tones, especially Asians, the appearance that they were much darker. Only after the wide spread use of Panchromatic films were B&W photos more tonally accurate.
Yes, I think so.
QUOTE(ralphrepo @ May 26 2007, 09:26 PM) [snapback]4890398[/snapback]
Thanks to the poster for these wonderful snapshots of yesteryear in China.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.