#foochow

Island Pagoda. Carbon print from Foochow and the River Min (1873),

From 1870 to 1871, Scottish-born photographer John Thomson traveled 160 miles up the River Min to document the area in and around the city of Fuzhou (Foochow), one of the most picturesque regions in China. 

John Thomson gathered eighty photographs from this voyage into an album titled Foochow and the River Min which was sold by advance subscription to the foreign residents of Fuzhou — tea planters, merchants, missionaries and government officials — who wanted a way to share their experiences with friends and family back home. 

Of the 46 copies originally published, fewer than 10 survive today.

John Thomson Photography,

Keying (Chinese: 耆英, p Qíyīng) was a three-masted, 800-ton Foochow Chinese trading junk which sailed from China around the Cape of Good Hope to the United States and Britain between 1846 and 1848.

Keying had been purchased in August 1846 in secrecy by British businessmen in Hong Kong, defying a Chinese law prohibiting the sale of Chinese ships to foreigners. She was renamed after the Manchu official Keying, based on an irregular romanization of his native name. The Keying was manned by 12 British and 30 Chinese sailors (the latter all Cantonese). She was commanded by Captain Charles Alfred Kellett, also British.

Keying left Hong Kong in December 1846.

She rounded the Cape of Good Hope in March 1847.

She stopped at St Helena in April 1847.

She was in New York City in July 1847.

She visited Boston in November 1847.

Chinese singers and musicians from Foochow, modern-day Fuzhou, China

Boys' blind school in Foochow, modern-day Fuzhou, China

Henry Scott (British, 1911-2005)Night Watch – FoochowOil on canvas24 x 36in (61 x 91.4cm)Private collection Sold for US$14,025 in May 2022 Fuzhou, alternately Romanised as Foochow, is the capital and one of the largest cities in Fujian province, China. Along with the many counties of Ningde, those of Fuzhou are considered to constitute the Mindong (lit. Eastern Fujian) linguistic and cultural…

isolated by mountains

“Foochow, isolated by mountains from quick reinforcement, presents a tempting objective to sea raiders.”

April 1953