Global Trade

Through the Eyes of a Collector: A Travel Album’s Photographic Voyage
Global Trade

Hunan, China, detail, Travel Album: China and Japan, early 20th century, gelatin silver print, Gift of Jerome Hanauer 1989.66.226 

 

This photograph shows a village dedicated to tea production and reinforces the album collector’s interest in Chinese daily life. Workers feature prominently in the scene. The caption on the back of the photograph indicates it was taken in the Hunan province, which then–as now–produced much of China’s tea. Beginning in the seventeenth century, tea became immensely popular in Europe and this demand fueled a global trade in the commodity. In the photograph’s background, people carry baskets full of tea leaves down hills covered in tea trees. On the right, two women shield their eyes from the sun as they approach the camera. In the foreground, a woman stands before tea leaves drying on bamboo sheets.

Yueyang, Hunan, China, detail, Travel Album: China and Japan, early 20th century, collodion print, Gift of Jerome Hanauer 1989.66.185 

This photo, likely taken from a boat, reveals the Customs House in Yueyang on the left. The caption explains that it is a key location for collecting taxes on imported and exported goods. The Customs House, established in 1901, played a vital role in trade, making its inclusion in the album unsurprising. Sir Robert Hart, who oversaw Chinese customs houses like this one in the early 1900s, encouraged photo documentation of their work. This photo hints at a possible connection between the album's owner and Hart, or the Customs House itself.