1920s China through the lens of Joseph Rock: Dali

Three pagodas with buildings and mountains behind May 4, 1922

"The San t'ah or three pagodas The small pagodas are seven-sided, about 7 feet wide on every side."

The following are photographs by Joseph Francis Charles Rock, the Austrian-American author, geographer, linguist and botanist who explored western China extensively in the 1920s and 30s. 

Rock's photo titles are often extremely brief, so, wherever possible we will include his field notes or parts of corresponding diary entries under each image. We first went to Simao (思茅) — today called Pu'er (普洱). Our second destination is Yunnan's Dali (大理), a city today synonymous with tourism. Rock visited the region in April and May of 1922, taking pictures of street scenes, people, an annual fair and the gorgeous surrounding landscape and buildings.

Rock's photo titles and descriptions use a Romanization system he possibly invented on his own. For instance, he often writes 'Dali' as 'Talifu', while in other places the names are inconsistently spelled. We can forgive him, as his photos provide an amazing view of southwest China as it existed 90 years ago. The pictures and text are published here unaltered, with special thanks to the Arnold Arboretum Horticultural Library at Harvard University for graciously allowing us to use them. An enormous collection of Rock's China photos are available at Harvard's Visual Information Access database.

Buildings of village including mosque at base of hills May 3, 1922

"Tsangshan mountain range as seen from the Tali bell tower, inner gate. The Mohammedan mosque in foreground."

  

Statue of seated general behind altar April 15, 1922

"Image of the famous General Yang of Talifu in the temple of Kuan. Halfway between Hsai Kuan and Talifu."

Buildings at base of hills May 2, 1922

"The Tsangshan range back of Tali, from the parade grounds."

Main street May 3, 1922

"The main street of Talifu looking towards the north gate."

Crowd of people at fairgrounds from above April 15, 1922

"The Talifu Fair held once a year on the plain of Talifu."

Click here for more pictures. 

Editor: Eric Wang