In the mid to late nineteenth century, our country was facing a crisis situation of cultural stagnation and historical faults.
At that time, wars were raging, and the homeland of China was wantonly divided and destroyed by foreign invaders. The nation was dead and in danger.
may really correspond to the old saying of "There is a bright future in the dark and there is a bright future in the village" .
In the chaotic war situation, the social data and historical memories of our country's historical stage at that time unexpectedly survived in an unexpected way .
has a photographer from France.
He used his own camera lens to record many scenes from that period. The images were clear, spanned a long time, and had rich cultural connotations.
Through his lens, we can see the true image of the high-ranking officials of the Qing Dynasty , we can see the government servants holding exaggerated weapons, and we can see that dark time filled with smoke and dust...
Old photos of the Qing Dynasty·A true record spanning hundreds of years
The ways and methods of recording history are all different.
Wall seal carvings from the most ancient period, historical records from ancient times, and various recording methods today that rely on information technology.
In addition, the recording and inheritance of history still require the support of a key condition, that is, the recorded object is in a certain degree of stability.
Just like those countries that are deep in war, or small places that are hidden from the world. often does not leave deep traces in history, and may even be completely forgotten by the world.
As for China, more than 180 years ago, we were mired in war for more than decades and suffered torture and devastation from invaders.
But surprisingly, the historical data of during that period are very complete records.
Moreover, it was recorded through the most intuitive and very rare images and photos at that time. The person who recorded the history of that year with a lens, is named Fang Suya, and he is a Frenchman.
It can be said that about the old black and white photos of the Qing Dynasty that we can find on the Internet today, 80% are from Fang Suya's camera .
As we mentioned at the beginning of the article, the two photos of Qing Dynasty officials and sword-wielding officers were also taken by Fang Suya back then.
Among the several photos recorded by officials, one is a photo of Fang Suya and the Yunnan Admiral.
Fang Suya is on the left side of the photo. She is wearing a French-style uniform. She holds a Western sword in her right hand across her thigh. She also has a thick and standard curvy beard.
The Admiral of Yunnan in the photo can be described as domineering and majestic.
Different from Fang Suya's leather shoes uniform, the admiral wears thick-soled official boots and a fur coat, with an extra-long court bead hanging around his neck that symbolizes his status.
There is also a pair of officers holding huge weapons. The two officers are standing in the photo frame holding weapons, as if they are deliberately concave and displaying their weapons.
The person on the left is holding a giant beheading sword that is half as tall as a person.
If it weren't for this person holding the blade safely with his hand, I believe many friends would be amazed by that momentum.
The guard on the right is holding a giant long-handled knife. The format and image are quite similar to Guan Erye's Qinglong Yanyue Knife, but it is extremely weak in terms of momentum.
"Traveller" in a foreign country·Fang Suya
Unlike the Americans who photographed and recorded many scenes at that time, Fang Suya is very special. He was born in France, but it is difficult to find information and records about him in France.
Fang Suya lost her parents when she was young and was adopted by her adoptive father when she was about to become an adult. After
, he followed his adoptive father's career path and entered politics.
At the end of the 19th century, Fang Suya came to Yunnan, my country from France. He was arranged by France to be stationed at the local government, just like a note with the sign of "French possession", which was posted in Yunnan.
Fang Suya spent four years in Yunnan, China.
In the past four years, Fang Suya did not look like a vicious invader at all, but like a tourist who came to a treasured place. He brought seven cameras and countless camera films.
In four years, Fang Suya put the whole of Yunnan into his camera.
He recorded everything from a beggar at the bottom of society to a government official. He also recorded all the local landscapes and vegetation in Yunnan.
In addition to Yunnan, Fang Suya's footprints also cover today's Beijing and Guangxi, and these two places he visited were also comprehensively recorded by his camera.
Maybe this is just interest for Fang Suya.
But what he didn't know was that the photos he took have now become the earliest, most comprehensive and exquisite historical records of a country and region in the history of Asia.
Fang Suya’s photo heritage
The photos taken by Fang Suya naturally have considerable historical and cultural value.
But you may not expect that the photos that Fang Suya has taken today are actually less than one-fifth of the total number of photos he took at that time.
That is because in the early twentieth century, the corrupt and incompetent Qing government had already incurred the anger of the entire Chinese nation.
In 1900, due to the influence of the Boxer Uprising, Fang Suya, who was in today's Kunming, was forced to flee back to his country .
But how could the local people let go so easily? How could Fang Suya, a foreign invader, let him escape with such ease?
So in the afternoon of that day, Fang Suya's team was intercepted in an organized and planned way.
Due to the gap in weapons and equipment, only a few people in the team were injured.
However, Fang Suya's several large boxes of photo negatives were not so lucky. A large number of photos were destroyed in the chaos. In the end, only a few small boxes of negatives that Fang Suya carried with her survived.
These photos have been passed down from generation to generation and have been preserved in the hands of Fang Suya’s descendants. Some of them were given to French museums by Fang Suya’s children.
Conclusion
History is an interesting and wonderful culture, and the significance of history is extraordinary.
On a smaller scale, history is the memory and record of the past by the human race. On a larger scale, history is an indispensable key step for the human race to move towards the future.
With the existence of history, people will no longer feel blocked by the unknown distance, and they are also very lucky that the tragic and bone-chilling war years that our country has experienced can be recorded and preserved.
This also allows future generations of our Chinese nation to remember the humiliation at all times and never forget the promotion and inheritance of the national spirit.
