China: three Manchu ladies inside a courtyard, Beijing. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

Three women in Mr Yang's courtyard beside a balcony, showing their hairstyles. One of them, sitting on the balcony railing, seems to have artificially deformed feet. One woman faces the camera, another stands with her back towards the camera, while the third sits sideways. Clearly, in this photograph Thomson posed his models in order to show the elaborate hairstyles of Manchu women: 'I confess myself unable to explain the mysterious mode in which the tresses have been twisted, but careful study of the illustrations will, I doubt not, reward any lady who may desire to dress her hair "à la Manchu".'