China

Illustration from the early 19th century of a buffalo cow that was common in the north of China.

Six photographs showing antiquated methods of cultivation in China, Formosa, India, Sudan, Egypt and Morocco in the early/mid 20th century. Each of the images shows a man using cattle or camels (Sudan and Egypt) and hand ploughs in fields.

Located in I.A.P.G.R-E.R.S. Staff Papers 1988. Part 1 and Index.

Piece of fabric with a Chinese illustration, in a small packet with unrelated Chinese writing. The illustration represents two characters (one entirely visible, one hidden) under a costume of a beast, seemingly for a Lion dance or another traditional dance, usually performed during the Chinese New Year and other traditional, cultural and religious festivals.

Small concertina notebook in Chinese, manuscript. Bought in an Oxfam bookshop for 3£. Could be a notebook kept by someone who was fitting out a ship for a voyage, or some similar occupation. The notebook has separate sets of ink and pencil Chinese characters, and so perhaps the book has been used for two separate projects. A few pages have what appear to be pencilled English translations of a few characters and occasional transcriptions in Arabic numerals.

Correspondence in Chinese and in English, and coloured sketch of the Porcelain Tower in Nanking. There is little information on the origin and context of the documents. One of the letters has the following annotation: 'Letter to Rt from Dong - a chinese baptised ... from Ninqho who visited Edinburgh along with Dr McGowan in Oct Nov and Dec 1859 signed (Dong Patzai) translated by Dr McGowan'.

Located in I.A.P.G.R-E.R.S. Staff Papers 1988. Part 1 and Index.

Photograph of a man standing in a field with two cows with several farm buildings in the background in Cochin, China in the early 20th century.