Chinese Maritime Customs Service
A research project funded by an AHRC standard Reserach Grant is currently being undertaken by academics at the University of Bristol. This project could transform key aspects of the study of modern China by making available for the first time previously unseen historical archives.
The research investigates the 'Chinese Maritime Customs Service' which for nearly 100 years, from 1854 until 1950, was directed by foreign nationals, including many Britons. Based in Chinese port cities, it oversaw the points of arrival and departure for goods and travellers alike. Underpinning the research project is a rich seam of rediscovered archives from the Customs Service and its staff.
The project has worked to develop access to the archives and research 
into them, focusing on issues related to modern Chinese history and to the history of modern imperialism. It has sought to link the 55,000 files in the newly opened archives in China with records overseas. At the same time it has worked to make the archives – in which thousands of files relating to individual careers are included – accessible to those pursuing biographical or genealogical research.
Early on in the project it also became apparent that the descendants of customs men often possessed documents and other records, particularly photographs, which had been either brought or sent back from China. It was out of this information that a sister project, 'Historical Photographs of China', developed.
Historical Photographs of China
An online archive and touring exhibition are now in place for the project 'Historical Photographs of China'. This project aims to locate and digitise photographs of China that, until now, have remained in the private photograph albums of the descendants of customs staff, as well as other foreign residents of China. These photographs are not just a record of expatriate life; many aspects of China are recorded in this virtual archive scattered overseas. After digitisation the photographs are uploaded on to the open-access project website, which is a collaboration with researchers in France and at the University of Lincoln.
China's turbulent twentieth century, marred by rebellion, revolution, wars, and Japanese invasion all inflicted immense damage on China's built heritage and on its historical records. Then under communist rule, deconstruction continued, gathering pace until the Cultural Revolution (1966 - 69) which saw widespread attacks on historic buildings and the material culture of the past. Behind closed doors individuals even destroyed personal records, burning family photographs which could be interpreted as 'proof' of their own 'counter-revolutionary' pasts.
The photographs in the exhibition were taken by talented amateur photographers, by foreign snap-shotters, professional studio photographers, and others. Fu Bingchang, was one such amateur photographer. His career as a revolutionary, Customs administrator, politician and diplomat began in 1923 and he went on to become the Chinese Ambassador to the Soviet Union during the Second World War. For over 30 years Fu added images to the two most distinctive groups in his collection, photographs of political personalities and portraits of women. He mixed with the ruling Chinese elite as it prepared to seize power in the 1920s, and as it ruled China until 1949, and many famous figures are recorded in his collection. He photographed women he knew well – relatives, friends and wives of colleagues, all dressed, accessorized and coiffed in the height of fashion.
These pictures that have serendipitously survived in Britain also provide a record of built environments lost through warfare, natural disasters such as flooding, and redevelopment. They preserve records of social life and customs, of the worlds of work and leisure, of conflict itself, as well as education, commerce and culture. They form a resource for researchers, those interested in heritage restoration, and those simply wishing to picture more clearly the worlds of their parents and grandparents, Chinese or non-Chinese.
Public Engagement
The strands of the 'Historical Photographs of China' project have been brought together in an exhibition, 'Picturing China 1870-1950, Photographs from British Collections'. This has already received over ten thousand visitors at the Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and the Museum of East Asian Art in Bath, where the exhibition is open until 13th April 2008. 'Picturing China' then moves to the Oriental Museum, Durham, from 25th April to 30th August. A book/catalogue (Picturing China 1870-1950, Photographs from British Collections, co-authors Robert Bickers, Catherine Ladds, Jamie Carstairs and Yee Wah Foo) is available (price £10 plus p&p) from the University of Bristol.
Further information is available at the Maritime Customs project website.