This is a set of old photos from the "Swedish Mongolian Mission Photography Collection". The photographer was Swedish Joel Eriksson. The photos were taken around 1947. They mainly show the street scene of Zhangjiakou , the "Pearl Beyond the Great Wall" 75 years ago.
Main Street
A main street in Zhangjiakou City. The street is very wide, with some buildings with strong Republican style on both sides. This is an architectural style that combines Chinese and Western styles with complicated decorations. It was popular in the construction of commercial streets in major and medium-sized cities in the early Republic of China.
Damen Street Archway
The "Huanglu Qingyi" archway on Damen Street has the words "filial piety, loyalty, trust, etiquette, justice, integrity and shame" written on the plaque. There is a cigarette advertisement of " red tin package " on the house mountain on one side of the archway. At that time, there were two archways on this street, this one is the upper archway. There is also a lower archway at the other end of the street, which is called "an important border town".
Street Soldiers
At this time, Zhangjiakou was between the first liberation and the second liberation. The soldiers walking through the archway in the picture are the Kuomintang troops, and they are followed by a patrolling policeman.
Rickshaw
The weather is cold and there are few pedestrians on the streets. A rickshaw driver walked down the street with his hands on his sleeves and his handlebars under his armpits, hoping to meet an employer. Not far behind him was a shop called "Tiande Yongsheng Pharmacy".
Pedestrians on the street
This is the second photo taken by the photographer near "Tiande Yongsheng Medicine Store". The camera focuses on a man looking around on the street. He is wearing a cotton-padded jacket, cotton trousers and leggings. This was the typical dress of ordinary people in Zhangjiakou during the winter at that time.
The third photo
Erickson seemed to be very interested in this medicine store and the surrounding buildings. He took three photos here in succession. I don’t know whether it was because the Manchu and Chinese characters on the door of the medicine store aroused his interest, or because the building itself was so exquisite.
The positive face of the drug store
We also saw this drug store in the photos taken by Araki, a reporter for the Japanese army invading China, in June 1938. At this time, ten years have passed, and the appearance of the drug store has hardly changed. However, the little boy standing in the door with half of his face looking out is almost married and has children.
Inside Dajingmen
Looking at Dajingmen from the city, it doesn’t have the same majestic feeling as seen from outside. At this time, Dajingmen also had two huge wooden doors installed, and soldiers patrolled and stood guard near the city gate.
Dajingmen
When we walked under the doorway, we really felt how tall it was. In this photo, we can more clearly see the appearance of the two doors in the doorway. The door panels are very thick, covered with iron sheets, and riveted with densely packed door nails. It is very regrettable that in this group of photos taken by Swedes, the editor did not find a frontal photo of Dajingmen.
Dajingmenwai
In the market outside Dajingmen, the shops on one side are built against the mountain, and there are open-air stalls in front of the door. There were not too many people on the street. There were people shopping in small groups, people riding bicycles in a hurry, wandering vendors selling brooms, and women holding their children to watch the street scene. On the gable of the house on the right, there are three big words "Zhangjiakou" written on it.
Street glance
In this photo, bicycles, rickshaws, cars and other means of transportation appear in the same frame, but there are no shadows of horse carriages and camels. You must know that horse carriages and camels were the two most important means of transportation in Zhangjiakou area back then.
Overlooking the local houses
Looking at the local houses from a high place, the close-up view shows the traditional adobe mud house, which is relatively low. There is a courtyard with several big trees in the distance. On the slope near the courtyard, you can see a bunker, indicating that a relatively important agency is stationed here. Looking further into the distance, we can see the continuous mountains.
Residential House at the foot of the mountain
A scene in the courtyard of a residential house at the foot of the mountain. There are three foreigners among them. The woman standing on the far right is Josephine Olson, a church staff member here.The man in the middle is a colleague of Olson, wearing Chinese clothing. From a distance, his outfit looks no different from ordinary local people.
Fashionable woman
A very fashionable woman, wearing a cheongsam, with a perm and wavy hair, and the leather shoes she wears are also very clean. At this time, she was preparing to move, holding two bedrolls in her arms.
Road outside the city
A street outside the city. It is said that this is the starting point of Zhangku Avenue . In the picture, a rickshaw pulling a woman is driving forward, and several soldiers can be seen wandering on the street.
Roadside electric poles
There were dense horizontal poles on the electric poles erected on the street, indicating that many residents had access to electricity at that time. The road is a very wide dirt road, low-lying on both sides and higher in the middle to facilitate drainage in rainy days.
Xigou North Street
The scene of Xigou North Street outside Dajingmen has a wide view and is very distinctive. Therefore, this place has become a recurring scene in old photos, which shows that every photographer has been shocked when he came here.
Freight carriage
A carriage loaded with goods was passing by the foot of the mountain. On the top of the hillside was an abandoned ancient castle, and a simple and vicissitudes of history came to the face.
