Swatow (Shantou), Kwangtung (Guangdong) province, China: European houses in the foreign quarter. Photograph by John Thomson, 1871.

A large colonial house with a verandah and double stair to the lawn on the landward side. A flagpole on the seaward side

Shantou, situated on the eastern coast of Guangdong, is both densely populated and very fertile. In the second half of the 19th century its main attraction for foreign traders was its spacious harbour, which was deep enough for large vessels to anchor in. In 1858 it became an open port, and a formal foreign settlement was built up four years later in an area known as Kakchio (Queshi, as was later called). Because the settlement was situated on a hill comprising barren rocks, rich soil from the plain was imported so that the foreign residents could enjoy gardens and lawns. The houses of Europeans were built with native concrete and in colonial styles with verandas. The large one in the photograph is said to have been the residence of Messrs. Richardson & Co., the chief sugar merchant from Glasgow in Scotland. Besides being a port, Shantou and its surrounding area was also famous for its sugar production. In the mid-19th century Shantou alone exported about one million piculs of sugar annually (1 picul = circa 133 Ibs)

1871.

1 photograph : glass photonegative, wet collodion ; glass approximately 25.5 x 30.5 cm (10 x 12 in.)

Swatow, China Bears Thomson's negative number: "555"

John Thomson, Illustrations of China and its people, London, 1873-4, vol. 2, pl. VI, fig. 17, "Swatow foreign settlement... taken from the heights above the residence of Messrs. Richardson & Co."

China through the lens of John Thomson, 1868-1872, Beijing: Beijing World Art Museum, 2009, p. 145 (reproduced)

This is one of a collection of original glass negatives made by John Thomson. The negatives, made between 1868 and 1872, were purchased from Thomson by Sir Henry Wellcome in 1921

Wellcome Collection 19360i