Historical Chinese Postcard Project: 1896 - 1920
1.1.
The Database
The database focuses on early (1896-1920) postcards of China.
This project studies the first wave of postcards with a Chinese subject. We show them, discuss what they are, who produced them and where, how they were used, their significance--in short, their historical context. Hopefully, this site will prove that postcards are indeed a tremendous visual resource on the late imperial and early republican periods in China.
It was created under the patronage of the Institut d'Asie Orientale (IAO) in Lyon, France.
The database primarily aims at being a reference and research instrument for scholars and students of the period. This is a virtual library for a type of material not previously studied at scientific level. (Especially when from early 20th century China, postcards are rarely found in public collections.) As a work in permanent progress, the database will be updated and enriched as research progresses.
The database comes after several books published in China over the last few years, as well as a few other websites. Contrary to them, it is not a mere bank of images: the database stretches beyond the postcards as objects to put them back into their original context. Information either refers to the postcards proper, or is new research on the period, particularly about photography. This is how the site can be used for various types of research, even by people outside Chinese studies. In addition, the site will present many more postcards than any book, and be immediately accessible.
A warning: this is a work in progress. What information should be included is still being questioned. Desirable data is still missing here and there. Much, we hope, will be completed in the near or (slightly) more distant future. Nevertheless, as studies in the field are only beginning, we have to expect that a significant share of desirable information will remain unavoidable since it was not recorded at the time.
The database includes:
- A Catalog: This includes scans of all postcards: one postcard
(front and back) per screen, with relevant data.
Two types of data are identified here, (1) what deals with the postcard
as an object, and (2) what relates to the original photograph which is
the source image.
- Various additional Data:
- Texts of presentation of the database, field, historical context, etc.
- Short topical articles, such as: 'history of postcards'; 'postcards of China'; 'older photographs used in postcards'; 'early postcard collecting'; 'printing processes'; etc.
- Bibliography: list of useful publications on postcards or photography.
- Glossary of special terms.
- List of Transcriptions from Chinese.
- Commented lists of early Publishers and Printers of Chinese postcards.
- Commented list of Photographers/artists who contributed images.
- Commented table of Source Collections.
- Maps identifying the areas related to postcards, where publishers operated, etc. Time maps will help visualize changes over time.
Process of development:
As a first stage, about 500 postcards will be fully processed to form the core of the database. They were selected for their appeal as both iconographic and postcard historic documents from Régine Thiriez's private collection of 1500 early postcards. Additional research (articles, bibliography, etc.) will be entered. All articles will be dated and signed; from the start outside collaborations are encouraged. This stage will be completed and the database opened by June 2004.
NOTE: Articles are research work and, like all types of
publications, should be credited by users.
While this will already constitute a unique research tool,
we believe that it will also attract the attention of museums/libraries,
collectors,
and
Chinese studies scholars from various fields who own postcards
or study them. We plan
to gather an international research team to further develop
the
database. Contacts are under way.
Later stages might see:
- more items entered for the same period, from the same or other collections;
- time span expanded beyond 1920 towards WWII or later;
- geographical range covering more of East Asia;
- articles from other non-web sources reprinted in the database;
- special interests being thoroughly researched, as, for example, the genres of "colonial" or "missionary" postcards, or those showing a particular place;
- links set with other sites;
- etc.
Once such collaborations are secured -- probably by the end of 2004--a broader project will be defined and a search for financing for a larger-scale international project started.
This Collection
The collection
of postcards used for the database was originally gathered to complement
a research
on nineteenth
century
photography. [See:
Use of Nineteenth-Century
Photographs on Postcards] This is why it
focuses on the early years, until 1920 at the latest.
The bulk
is late
imperial,
that is, before
1911. Any
later postcard
was acquired by accident, ignorance, or--rarely--for
the changes in either style or message display.
The collection has no claim to be an accurate
reflection of worldwide postcards with Chinese
subject from
the early 1900s.
Like all
collections, it is
slanted. For example, because of the collector's
focus on early photography, postcards
using pre-1900 photographs are over-represented
in the sample. Nor do they reflect the international
market: acquisition was generally limited
to
French and U.K.
dealers, but also two French personal collections.
In
addition, money
was a factor, as collecting was started when
prices were already going up (they
have
not stopped
yet!). A high percentage of these postcards
were selected because they were cheaper than
other
ones which were
possibly more
attractive or
significant. And while,
happily, the resulting collection is reasonably
coherent,
the first selection of about 500 postcards
privileges those with
messages
and postmarks,
simply because they are more interesting.
Spelling from Chinese, etc.
Spelling places and people's names in Western languages is a complex issue when dealing with China. Pinyin, the transcription in Western script of Chinese characters which is now used worldwide, is a post-1949 creation. In this system, the old "Peking" is spelled "Beijing." Before is became standard in the West (which happened in several stages across the years and is still not fully true), the transcription of Chinese names followed local spellings, meaning that they were based on French in France and German in Germany. For example, the city of Hankou (modern pinyin spelling) was known as Han-Kéou to the French, Hankow in the English world or Hankau in Germany. And these are just the most usual forms... This is why the original captions at the bottom of postcards are so erratic.
The database uses the modern pinyin transcription in addition to the one appearing in captions. It includes a list of Transcriptions from Chinese for reference.
In a similar way, places will be identified under their modern name and current administrative boundaries. Geographical names are also found in the list of Transcriptions.
All most usual transcriptions will be taken into account by the system. In other words, the database knows that 'Hankou', 'Han-Kéou', 'Hankow' and 'Hankou' are the same place, which is now amalgamated into the city of 'Wuhan'.
Authors:
Régine Thiriez, Ph.D., is an Associate Research Fellow at Institut d'Asie Orientale, Lyon. Her field of research is early photography (1840-1900) and early postcards (1896-1920) in China. A postcard collector, she will supply material and research for the database.
Gérald Foliot, System Administrator, Institut des Sciences de l’Homme (CNRS) Lyon, built and will maintain the database, supervising all technical aspects.