Last week on January 5, the New York Public Library released a large cache of public domain images that previously were only available to view at their New York City location. Some of these images included spectacular old photographs taken in the early 1900s during the very last years of the Qing Dynasty in China before the founding of the Republic. The photographs were later developed by European publishers to be made into postcards for foreign tourists.
上周的1月5号，纽约公共图书馆公布了一大批此前只供馆内查看的数字化高清图片。此批部分图片中包含了摄于20世纪初中华民国成立前清朝末期的老照片，这些照片随后被欧洲出版商制作成明信片，供给当时的外国游客。
The photos in the collection were all taken in black and white, and later colorized through a process of handpainting or Photochrom. The fascinating scenes, which capture Chinese people on the streets and in their homes, reveal what life was like in early 20th century Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, and elsewhere in China. The exact context and dates that the photographs were taken have all since been lost to time, with only a few captions to help the viewer place the image.
这组照片均为黑白摄影，再通过后期手工上色或者Photochrom上色。这些捕捉了中国人行走街头或活动于家中的迷人场景，展现了20世纪早期中国的上海、北京、香港以及其他地方的生活景象。这些摄影图片的确切拍摄背景和时间于时间长河中早已无迹可寻，只余下照片上的零星说明文字可供观者联想。
There are many remarkable portraits, such as one entitled Chinese Boys, which shows two boys standing next to a traditional Chinese drum and wearing late Qing dynasty era clothing. Other photographs depict domestic scenes, street barbers, vendors at outdoor markets, children in traditional ethnic dress, and pedestrians strolling along Old Nanjing Road. One photograph entitled No. 16 Chair. depicts a foreign expatriate seated in a sedan chair, being carried by two coolies. The photos are all roughly dated between 1907 and 1921.
这组照片中有众多夺目的肖像摄影，例如，《中国男孩》，其描绘了两个站立于一个传统中国鼓边上、身着清朝服饰的男孩。其他一些照片则捕捉表现了当时的家庭情景、街头理发师、户外市场小摊贩、身着传统民族服饰的儿童，以及旧时南京路上的各色行人。有一张名为《编号16: 椅子》的照片，拍摄了一个外国人坐在由两个苦力抬着的轿椅上。这些照片粗略估计摄于1907年到1921年之间。
During these dramatic years when these images were captured, China witnessed the tumultuous collapse of its imperial system. The Qing Dynasty, after suffering successive defeats in the Opium Wars in the previous century, was finally in 1911 overthrown by a group of revolutionaries in the Xinhai Revolution. In place of the monarchy, the Republic of China was established, ruling the territories of present-day China until the Nationalists were overtaken by the Communist Party in 1949.
在这些画面被定格的那些动荡年间，中国见证了它封建帝国的轰然倒塌。清朝，在上世纪鸦片战争中一系列连续的战败后，最终被辛亥革命的革命者们于1911年推翻。随后，中华民国成立，代替封建王朝统治着当今的中国领土，直至1949年被中国共产党夺取政权。
In this collection of rare photographs, the viewer can observe the ordinary lives of Chinese civilians during this pivotal period of transition in modern Chinese history. The streets of Shanghai then, as it is now, are bustling with commerce. The queue, one of the last vestiges of the waning Manchurian influence of the Qing Dynasty, is noticeably still prevalent in this collection of images. There are also signs of an influx of foreign influences in China during this time and hints of modernization in its cities, contrasting sharply to the abject poverty of China’s agricultural workers.
在这些稀有的照片资料中，读者可以观察到中国近代史关键转变时期中国人民的日常生活。当时的上海街道，犹如它们的今天一样，熙熙攘攘，商业氛围浓重。彼时，辫子，作为渐衰的满清遗风之一，其流行程度在这组照片中仍可见一斑。照片中也可见这段时期外国势力大量涌入中国的印记，以及这座城市现代化暂露头角的迹象，这与当时中国农业劳动者的极度贫困形成了鲜明对比。
By releasing the more than 180,000 items from their digital archives into the public domain, the New York Public Library has opened limitless creative possibilities for internet users around the world. The items are all free of copyright, free of charge, and have no restrictions on usage. Not only can the materials be used for research and reconnect us to a past not previously seen, but they can be reused for a wide variety of creative remix projects. Some of the possibilities NYPL Labs has already developed include: interactive mapping, networked catalogs, generative eBook artwork – even an historical version of Minecraft!
通过向公众发布超过18万来自他们数字档案的文件，纽约公共图书馆为全球的网络用户开启了无限的创意可能。这些文件均无版权和使用限制，并免予使用费用。这些材料不仅可供我们用于研究，与过去建立连接，更可供用于大范围的各类创意混合项目。纽约公共图书馆实验室已经开辟了一些可能性，包括：交互定位，联网目录，生成电子书，甚至有一个Minecraft游戏的历史版本。
Website: digitalcollections.nypl.org
Contributor: Leon Yan
Images Courtesy of The New York Public Library
