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Editor's note: Every week for the remainder of 2008 GoKunming will publish photos from the collection of Auguste François (1857-1935), who served as French consul in south China between 1896 and 1904, during which he spent several years in Kunming. The photos have been provided by Kunming resident and private collector Yin Xiaojun (殷晓俊). GoKunming thanks Yin Xiaojun for providing us a glimpse of Kunming at the beginning of the 20th Century. Year: 1901 Subject: Eastern and Western Pagodas (东寺塔与西寺塔) Location: Straddling Dongsi Jie (东寺街), 100 meters south of Jinbi Lu (金碧路), facing eastward Background: In 1901, Kunming - then known as Yunnan-fu (云南府) - was the established center of power for Yunnan which was part of the sphere of influence of the waning Qing Dynasty. But Kunming had not always been a part of the Chinese empire though, as is evidenced by the presence of these two Bai-style pagodas built when the city was called Tuodong (拓东) and was not administered by Han Chinese, but by the Bai and Yi kingdom known as Nanzhao (南诏国). The pagodas are some of the oldest standing structures in Kunming. While China was flourishing under the Tang Dynasty (618-907) the Nanzhao Kingdom emerged as a major regional force for a relatively short time, during which it controlled all of Yunnan. From defeating the Tang army at Xiaguan in 751 until its conquest of Chengdu in 829, the Nanzhao Kingdom experienced nearly 80 years of rapid expansion, resulting in a kingdom that ruled all of Yunnan, most of Sichuan and much of northern Myanmar, Thailand and Laos. During this time, the Nanzhao Kingdom built the Eastern and Western Pagodas in an area south of Kunming's city wall. The pagodas were positioned in a way that mirrored the Dade Temple Twin Pagodas (大德寺双塔), which were within the city wall and are still standing today. The Twin Pagodas are hidden in a small alley one kilometer to the north between Huashan Dong Lu and Qingnian Lu. The Eastern and Western Pagodas were both constructed more than 11 centuries ago. The above photo taken by Auguste François in 1901 is taken facing east, with the Western Pagoda in the foreground and the Eastern Pagoda in the background. A great earthquake during the Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368) toppled the Eastern Pagoda, which was rebuilt shortly afterward. Thus, the Western Pagoda is in actuality several centuries older than its counterpart. The image below is a photograph taken in May, 2008 by GoKunming – 107 years after François decided to record the pagodas. We attempted to take it from roughly the same spot as François, but there is currently an apartment building standing there.
Today the Eastern and Western Pagodas have been enclosed by small parks – the Eastern Pagoda is surrounded by a greener park and costs four yuan to enter. The Western Pagoda has less greenery around it and more in the way of historical commentary (in Chinese) and interesting bas-relief depicting images from the past – there is no admission fee. Related article: Auguste François, Yin Xiaojun and Kunming at the end of the Qing Dynasty Tags: Auguste François, Eastern and Western Pagodas, old Kunming, Tang Dynasty, Yin Xiaojun, Yunnan-fu Auguste François, Yin Xiaojun and Kunming at the end of the Qing DynastyThursday, 29th May 2008 ~ Chris ~ Link ~ Comments (0)
Like most other Chinese cities, Kunming has been racing toward abstract ideas such as 'modernity' and 'development' via extensive demolition of the remaining older parts of the city to make way for gleaming high-rises filled with offices, apartments and retail space. First-time visitors to Kunming, be they Chinese or foreign, have to put a real effort into finding the few older parts of the city that are still around. Until 1952, Kunming was a walled city – the wall and its gates are long gone, but their existence still echoes today in place names like Xiao Ximen (小西门, 'Lesser west gate') and Beimen Jie (北门街, 'North gate Street'). There are also less obvious connections to the wall, such as Qingnian Lu (青年路, 'Youth Road'), which was once Kunming's east wall. The city government in 1952 ordered hundreds of young people to tear down the wall and use its bricks to make a new road running north-south. To show its appreciation for the young people that demolished the east wall, the city government named the new street after them. With the wall out of the way, Kunming began marching toward a future in which for several decades development trumped culture heritage. History is one of the primary contributors to any city's character, with older physical structures offering the most palpable connection to the past. In 2008, almost all of pre-1949 Kunming has been razed to clear a path for modernity. On some levels this could be considered true progress as many of Kunming's older buildings were built of earth and lacked simple amenities such as plumbing. That said, some may argue that wholesale demolition of a city comes at a psychological cost. "I feel that many Chinese people have no faith," Kunming native and private photo collector Yin Xiaojun (殷晓俊) told GoKunming. Yin has spent the last 10 years researching a collection of photos by Auguste François (1857-1935), who served as French consul in south China between 1896 and 1904, during which he spent several years in Kunming and elsewhere in Yunnan working on obtaining a concession from the local government to build the rail line from Vietnam to Kunming, which was then known as Yunnan-fu (云南府). "Many of us are looking for where we've come from and where we're going," Yin said. "Through the extensive photography of Auguste François, we can discover where we've come from. His photography is the earliest, largest and most complete collection of photographs documenting Chinese society at the end of the Qing Dynasty"
Over the last ten years, Yin has researched his entire collection of François' photographs, comparing them to documents from the Yunnan provincial government's archives as well as translations of François' memoirs. In order to make the photos more useful in a historical context, he has spent the last decade ascertaining the subject, location, social background and photographer. After acquiring 1,241 François photographs and motion pictures via purchase and exchanges with French cultural organizations, Yin held his first exhibition of 360 photos from the collection in Kunming in 1997 at the Yunnan Provincial Museum. More than 250,000 people bought tickets to take a look at Kunming at the start of the 20th Century, setting an attendance record for a single exhibition at the museum that still stands today. Subsequently Yin was invited by 44 mainland cities to bring his collection to their top museums – he chose four: Beijing, Xi'an, Zhengzhou and Chengdu. In 1999 he ceased exhibiting the photographs because he felt a need to find out as much as he could about each shot's story. Fast-forwarding to today, Yin says he has completed his research and is preparing several projects related to the François photo archives. In October of last year, he traveled to the locations of all the François photos to document the current conditions of the places François shot more than a century ago. His travels took him to Singapore, Hong Kong, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan and Shanghai. He is planning on using the then-and-now photos in a new book he began writing this year. Yin said he would also like to organize a new exhibition of François' photos highlighting the massive change in China over the last century. His end game, however, is to build a museum that displays the collection permanently. GoKunming thanks Yin Xiaojun for providing a sample of photos from the François archives to share with our readers. Over the coming months we will publish 25 photos and their stories every Wednesday. We hope that the photos will help bridge the gap between Kunming's distant past and its dynamic present. Contact Yin Xiaojun: His ten years of researching the François photos behind him, Yin Xiaojun is open to discussing possible cooperation with individuals and organizations interested in the collection. Yin can be contacted at yinxiaoj(at)public.km.yn.cn. Auguste François image: Association Auguste François Tags: Auguste François, Beimen Jie, Guangdong, Guangxi, history, Hong Kong, photography, Shanghai, Sichuan, Singapore, Xiao Ximen, Yin Xiaojun, Yunnan-fu |
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