Mainland Center / Comprehensive Report
▲ When Cixi took pictures for the first time, she knew that the pictures needed to be “printed”. (Photo / flip from Baidu Encyclopedia)
Western photography was introduced to China in the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, a terrible legend related to cameras was widely circulated among the people. It is said that the camera captures a person’s soul. Once a person’s figure is captured in the camera, that person’s soul will remain on the picture. People who lose their souls will die soon. So, at that time, many people would rather choose portraits than take pictures.
As the ruler of the Qing Dynasty, Cixi was very interested in cameras, but she did not dare to take pictures lightly. It was not until the late Qing Dynasty that De Ling, the daughter of the famous diplomat Yu Geng, entered the palace and explained the basic principles of the camera to her, and Cixi gradually accepted it. Cixi’s first formal photo shoot was after De Ling’s older brother Xunling entered the palace. At that time, Xunling brought a bulky box-type camera. After Cixi turned it on, he stood behind the box and looked out through the lens. He was surprised to see the little eunuch in front of the camera standing with to head down and her feet up and was very surprised. After taking the picture, Cixi couldn’t wait to see the finished product.
▲ Cixi visited the dark room. (Schematic diagram / taken from Baidu Encyclopedia)
At this time, De Ling explained with a smile that the pictures had to be developed before they could be seen. In the late Qing Dynasty, there were no mobile phones and instant cameras, and all photos taken with old-fashioned cameras had to go through the printing process. In this regard, Cixi became interested again, and asked directly what happened to “printing”. Xunling and Deling could not explain clearly for a while, so they simply took Empress Dowager Cixi to visit the printing studio. At that time, photos had to be developed in a darkroom, and the negatives should not be exposed before the photos were developed when developing paper.
Cixi walked into the dark room for the first time, and saw the water developing by accident, and when her face in the picture was very dark, she was shocked, thinking it was a sign of impending disaster. In fact, since the resolution of the old-fashioned pictures is not high, and this is the first time for Cixi to take pictures, she is inevitably a little nervous and has a blunt expression, so the effect can be imagined.
