It's 1917 and Sidney Gamble (of Proctor and Gamble wealth) is swanning round China taking photos like these
Michael W
@michaelwood8.bsky.social
Medical journalist, Sydney, via Leeds. I post stuff about my travels in China and random 1980s music and telly. Blog at josephrock.net
A fellow Wood Head Sidney Gamble, Sichuan, Dujiangyan, 1917
Today's colourised photos are of #Uyghur people in #Xinjiang, 1928-38. Photos by Carter Holton and Helmut de Terra substack.com/@michaelwood...
If there were influencers in 1944 they'd have been raving about this Chongqing house. (Is it still there?)
Today's colourised photo: a bizarrely dressed Taoist monk snapped in Sichuan by Christian missionaries in 1940
Add a bit of colour to Cecil Beaton's classic photos from the 1940s and they look uncannily lifelike and realistic, as if they were taken yesterday on a film set
A postscript to my 2004 trip to the remote mountain valley near Jiulong in western Sichuan. Reunited with the folk I met two decades earlier. open.substack.com/pub/michaelw...
Part 4. Return to Muti Konka in 2025: two decades of change in rural Sichuan
This is the final episode in the four-part series of articles on the 'lost' mountain of Muti Konka near Jiulong in western Sichuan. Please read the others first for context.
open.substack.com
A few more colourised Cecil Beaton pics from #China, 1944
I’ve posted some colourised photos from the Henan famine of 1942 on my substack page substack.com/@michaelwood...
Michael Woodhead (@michaelwoodhead190074)
I’ve colourised photos taken by Harrison Forman in the Henan famine of 1942 [more in the comments]. Some of them are quite distressing, as there are people literally eating bark and straw. But I thin...
substack.com
Today I’m colorizing photos from the forgotten Henan famine of 1942, caused by the decision by Chiang Kai Shek to flood the plains with water from the Yellow River to try block the advance of the Japanese invaders. It failed and 700,000 people died
Young smiles from old China in colour. These kids from the 1930s and 40s would be over 100 years old now. Colourised from B&W originals by Harrison Forman
Wasn’t a fan of Wham! in 1985 (Bunnymen/Teardrops was more my thing). But I will be going to see 10 Days in China film just to see the culture clash
For my next China trip I'm going to dress like Peter Fleming on his Xinjiang ('Tartary') travels. Brother of Ian, husband of Celia Johnson (Brief Encounter), and father of the adorable Lucy Fleming in the 1970s pandemic drama Survivors. What a family. And she looks just like her dad.
Tibetan twos. Colourised from 193” B&W photos by Carter Holton
Chengdu teahouse, 1943. Photo by Joseph Needham of his scientist colleagues. Colourised by AI
Zhongshan bridge in Lanzhou was the first permanent bridge over the Yellow River when built in 1909. It was strengthened with arches in the 1950s, but is now closed to vehicles. It’s now in the downtown shopping mall district and lit up at night as a tourist walkway to the White Pagoda on the hill.
Mullahs of the Turkic speaking Salar community of Xunhua, Qinghai, 1933. Colourised from B& W photos by Carter Holman
Surprising level of Islamophobia in the Chinese comments on Rednote/Xiaohongshu when I posted these colourised old photos of Salar Muslims. If China was a democracy, maybe a Trump candidate would be leader
Today's colourised photos: Nanjing 1945. From B&W originals by Hedda Morrison
Last month I visited the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial in Nanjing. Compare my photo with the same view snapped by former Canberra resident Hedda Morrison in 1945. Bit different!
Halal food menu from 1933, Salar Muslim man from Xunhua, Qinghai
Colourised photo of the day. Tibetan woman, Gansu, 1933. Carter Holton.
More colourised photos from 1930 Xunhua, Qinghai. B&W pics by Carter Holton
1930 Xunhua Muslim people (Salar, Bonan) Qinghai. Photos ( B&W) by Carter Holton
Colourised photo of Xunhua Muslim man with hawk, Qinghai 1928. Carter Holton
Does colourisation with AI create a false, enhanced image? Even if it does make subtle changes (eg with the teeth), I think it still helps to being these 100-year old images to life.
