Peking, Pechili province, China: a nightwatchman. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

A man, wearing a shaggy coat and hat, striking an attitude of calling out while hitting a wooden block with a baton. Taken out of doors. The same subject as Thomson's negative number 688, probably one half of a stereo pair. In Imperial China, people relied on night watchmen or gatekeepers to tell them the time and to keep an eye open for thieves. Many were employed by the government to ensure general security in cities and villages. Most watchmen carried a wooden clapper, as seen in this photograph, which the watchmen used to announce their presence and scare away thieves. This watchman is an old Manchu bannerman, Old Wang, described by Thomson as "One of the city guard, Peking. An old Tartar bannerman, a humble member of the Manchu camp, who kept watch at the gate of the French hotel by night, and although in the pay of the government, and allowed a salary sufficient for his own support, yet by the time the amount reaches his hands through the official channel, it dwindles to about six shillings a month, and a regulation sheep-skin coat once a year. Old Wang ... employed also a wooden clapper to let the inmates of the house know he was astir, and to scare away thieves."--Thomson, loc. cit.