Fangguangyan monastery, Fujian province, China: three monks at the meal table. Photograph by John Thomson, 1870-18711.

Fangguanyan monastery was located in Yongtai county about 30 kilometres from Fuzhou, on the upper reach of the Min River. Here three monks of Fangguangyan are at the meal table. The youngest one was a boy 'full of vivacity'. According to Thomson their diet comprised only vegetables. However, he noted that all three of them were smokers and liked to indulge in tobacco. Thomson also suspected that the older man smoked opium. Fujian, being a sub-tropical country, harboured a variety of tropical diseases, including malaria. At the time people regularly used opium and tobacco as a prophylactic against malaria and as relief for miasmic fevers. The right-hand frame of the photograph is crossed through