*
Homepage

 

06/09 (Tue)

Opening Hours 9:00-17:00

*
Records of Guanxi Region

Author: The Archives of Institute of Taiwan History

The development of Guanxi area began in 1791, when Wei Agui of Zhuqian Village arrived the east side of Xinpu. This collection comprises land records, personal contracts, licenses, and allotment agreements among devisees of the Zhang family of Hudu Village, as well as relevant documents about Wei Agui’s offspring. It is a source for understanding the development of Guanxi area, especially the developing trace of the Zhang family, the uniqueness of Hakka written language, and the early interactions between the plain aborigines and the Han settlers. Besides, these documents are precious for studying women’s life from the late Qing to the early Japanese colonial period.

*
IV. The equipment and technique of photography that John Thomson applied

The photography technique that John Thomson applied was wet-plate collodion, which was invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. The equipment included a wooden camera, a portable tent to be a dark room, glass plate negatives, collodion and silver nitrate used to be sensitizers and developers. However, walking in the old-growth forest with the equipment was not convenient at all. Hence, John Thomson hired several porters assisting him to take photographs. Since the exposing process of wet-plate collodion took several seconds to 2 minutes, the photographer’s expertise and his interaction with the models were both tested. Surprisingly, there were no serious conflicts between the plain aborigines in Taiwan and western people. It was likely that Dr. Maxwell’s introduction already won the trust from Taiwanese plain aborigines. Therefore, they were calm and comfortable when facing John Thomson’s lens. According to what Thomson wrote in Through China: with a Camera, we can know that Taiwanese plain aborigines were very hospitable.


11F., South Wing, Building for Humanities and Social Sciences, 128, Sec. 2, Academia Rd., Nangang Dist., Taipei City 11529,
Taiwan Tel: +886-2-2652-5181 Fax: +886-2-2652-5184 【Contact us
Copyright © 2010 Institute of Taiwan History, Academia Sinica. All Rights Reserved