Local craft on the Soochow/Suzhou Creek at Shanghai, 1900 (Gelatine dry plate)

Creator: Kenneth Hurlstone Jones A view of the foreshore at Soochow Creek [also Suzhou or Wusong River], which was part of the post-1863 International Shanghai Settlement. In the foreground are planked jetties out to the row of six sampans moored side by side with their bows up to the jetty. Each has an awning to shade the deck. Another larger sampan, very low in the water, with two men at the stern and a cargo of either coal or building material is pulled up alongside a jetty to the right of the six sampans. The quayside is lined with two-storey Chinese warehouses built in brick and wood with tiled roofs, and gable ends with tiled tops that sweep up at the corners in the traditional Chinese style. The scene shows barrows, rickshaws, stores and barrels, and tradesmen populate the tree lined quayside. A telegraph cable is suspended between tall poles along the road. The photograph is slightly unsharp due to camera shake.