China: Lost Photos Showing Everyday Life in Early 1900s Beijing Discovered by Austrian Scholar

Lost photographs showing everyday life in Beijing, China in the early 1900s have been unearthed by an Austrian scholar.

The images show daily urban life in Beijing, with tea houses, footbinding, farming and Shaman dancing included in the collection.

Gerd Kaminski, a China scholar in Vienna and director of the Austrian Institute for China and Southeast Asia Studies, was approached by the relative of an Austro-Hungarian navy soldier who had died many years earlier.

She pointed him towards a huge collection of photographs showing Beijing, which he added to from collections provided by the descendants of other Austrian diplomats and traders in imperial China.

"These photos give precious insights into daily urban life in Beijing a century ago. Many of the buildings don't exist anymore and traditions seen in the photos have been lost in time," Kaminski told South China Morning Post.