Chaozhou, Guangdong (Kwangtung) province, China: Phoenix pagoda. Photograph by John Thomson, 1870.

A neglected pagoda on an outcrop of rock, by a river. Not the same building shown in Thomson's negative number 286 [to be confirmed]

The building is called the Phoenix pagoda. It stands on the right bank of the Han River, near Chaozhou, and is about 200 feet high with seven storeys. At each storey there is an inner stone patterned flooring. This stone-built pagoda was first erected in 1605. The terraces are surrounded by massive stone railings, resting on solid ornamental stone brackets, though many of the railings are damaged. In the 1918 earthquake the top two storeys were destroyed

1870

1 photograph : glass photonegative, wet collodion

18. (ringed) 2 Bears Thomson's negative number: "285"

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

John Thomson, Through China with a camera, London 1898, f.p. 82; Illustrations of China and its people, London 1873-4, vol. II, pl. vii, fig. 18 ? "A pagoda near Chao-Chowfu"

Wellcome Collection 18832i