Before Europeans first arrived in Asia, China was one of the most advanced and powerful nations in the world. It was the most populous, was politically unified, and most importantly, it had mastered the art of agriculture. However, when Europeans first landed on Chinese shores, they found a nation that had revered to traditional culture and warfare. Industrialization was almost nonexistent. At the beginning of the 20th century, China was divided into sphere of influence with each powerful Western nation trying to exert as much control over it as possible. The Chinese resented foreigners control and expressed this at the beginning of the 20th century with the Boxer Rebellion. At the same time, the traditional government of China began to fail in the early years. The Chinese people, being resentful of foreigners and dissatisfied with inability of the present government to throw them out, initiated the Revolution of 1911, replacing the Chinese 2000 year old imperial system with the Republic of China headed by Sun Yat-sen. Here is an amazing collection of vintage photographs taken in pre-revolution China, in Pre Deng XiaoPing period (1870-1946). Chinese Family [c1875] Attribution Unk Group Of Chinese Women With Fans, Canton, China [c1880] Afong Lai Greatwall China [1907] Herbert G. Ponting Boxer Prisoners Captured By 6th US Cavalry, Tientsin, China [1901] Underwood & Co Beggars, Beihai Park [c1917-1919] Sydney D. Gamble Cholon Actress, Cholon, Saigon, French Cochinchina [c1900's] Attribution Unk Qing Court Return, The Emperess Dowerger [1902] George E. Morrison China, Manchu Ladies Of The Palace Being Warned To Stop Smoking [c1910-1925] Frank & Frances Carpenter Interior Canal, Canton, China [c1917-1919] Sidney D. Gamble Pekin, Walls Of The Tartar City [c1894-1896] William H. Jackson Muslim Bandits, Xinjiang, China [c1915] Marc Aurel Stein Peking To Paris Autorace [1907] Attribution Unk Bride On Her Way To Wedding, Fuzhou Fujian China [c1911-1913] Ralph G. Gold Bomb Protection [c1940] Attribution Unk Mouth Of Coal Mine In Mountain Ridge West Of Ta Chu, China MAR [1909] Thomas C. Chamberlin Bridges By Which The Night Police Of The Roofs Cross The Streets, Canton, China [1900] Underwood & Co. Chang The Chinese Giant [c1870] Attribution Unk Chinese Punishment, Whipping A Lawbreaker [c1900] Attribution Unk Peking Mission School Children At Play, The Dragon's Head, China [1902] Carlton H. Graves Co Foot Bound Girls, Liao Chow, Shansi, China [c1930] IE Oberholtzer (Probable) During The Famine Young Child Dying In The Gutter, China [1946] Geroge Silk Taiwan Aborigines, Bunun Tribe, Formosa [c1900] Attribution Unk Empress Gobele Wan Rong [c1920-1940] Attribution Unk Toy Vendor, Chinatown, San Francisco [c1900s] Arnold Genthe Example Of A Coiffure On A Tartar Or Manchu Female, Frontview, Peking, Pechili Province, China [1869] John Thomson The Meridian Gate, Entrance To The Forbidden City, Peking China [1927] Herbert C. White Black, Chinese Frances Carpenter Ulysses S. Grant & Li Hung Chang, Tientsin, China [1879] Attribution Unk Jade Belt Bridge & Boat, Summer Palace, Peking, China [c1924] Sidney D. Gamble Men Laden With Tea, Sichuan Sheng, China [1908] Ernest H. Wilson Imperial Gate Of The Imperial City, Looking North, Peking, China [1901] Hawley C. White Co. Family In Lanchow, China [1944] Fr. Mark Tennien Kampa Dzong, Tibet [1904] John C. White Forest Temple Near Chefoo, Shantung, China [c1895] William H. Jackson Singing Girls, Hong Kong, China [c1901] Benjamin W. Kilburn Co. A Boat On A River With Rolling Hills In The Background In The Kiangsu Province Or Yunnan Province In China [1946] Arthur Rothstein Chinese Aviatrix Receives Gift Of New Plane From Colonel Roscoe Turner, Washington, D.C. [1939] Harris & Ewing Natives At Breakfast, Movable Chow Shop, Canton, China [c1919] Keystone View Co. Rich Merchants Dining With Singing Girls, Pekin, China [c1901] Benjamin W. Kilburn A Chinese Professor, China [c1919] Keystone View Co. Six Strongmen In Traditional Dress, China [1909] William Purdom Cake Of Millet & Jujubes, Peking, China [1915] Frank N. Meyer The Harvard Houseboat, Kiating Fu, China [1908] Ernest H. Wilson Stele Pavilion, SacredWay, Ming Tombs, Peking, China [c1900] Attribution Unk Mercenary Artillerymen Supplied With Guns & Ammunition By The British [c1880] Attribution Unk Canton, China [c1880] R.H. Brown Flower Boats, Canton China [c1871] Emil Rusfeldt View Of An Old Village, Kowloon Peninsula, Hong Kong [c1946] Hedda Morrison Kidnapped Girls, Foochow, China [1904] Attribution Unk Yung Ting Men, Front View Of The Two Towers & The Barbican [1924] Osvald Siren Jeunes Filles Chinoises [c1901] René Parison Tibetan Lhacham, Tibet [c1879] Sarat Chandra Das Bowl Shaped Objects Scattered Outside A Building, Yunnan, China [1922] Joseph F. C. Rock Ching Yang Temple, Chentu, China [1908] Ernest H. Wilson Leuchtturm Im Cantonfluss [c1891] C. R. Hager Fisherman In Grand Canal By The East Gate, Peking, China [1907] Herbert C. White Co. Queen's Road On Chinese New Years Day, Hong Kong, China [1902] Carlton H. Graves China, Kuan Hsien Temple [1908] Ernest H. Wilson Drache Am Schleusenrand Im Túngchou-Kanal, Peking, Chihli Province [c1906] Ernst Boerschmann Examination Hall With 7500 Cells, Canton, China [1873] Attribution Unk Der Industriebezirk Der Salzbrunnen, Tzeliutsing, Szechúan Province [c1906] Ernst Boerschmann Auf Der Reise Zum Kloster Des Himmelsknaben Bei Ningpo, Ningpo-Tíen Túng Sze, Chekiang Province [c1906] Ernst Boerschmann Der Abt Des Klosters, Tíen túng sze, Chekiang Province [c1906] Ernst Boerschmann Young Mother Carrying A Child On Her Back In The Market, Hong Kong Island [c1946] Hedda Morrison Produce & Wares From Shops Along The Sides Of A Typical Backstreet, Western District, Hong Kong Island [c1946] Hedda Morrison Seated Man Amid Baskets Of Fish & Hanging Dried Fish, Eastern Districts, Hong Kong Island [c1946] Hedda Morrison Produce & Wares From Shops Along The Sides Of A Typical Backstreet, Western District, Hong Kong Island [c1946] Hedda Morrison House Interior Showing Woman With Bound Feet Tending A Stove In The Lost Tribe Country [1936] Hedda Morrison House Interior Showing A Woman At A Brick Stove, A Bucket & A Ladle Made From A Gourd In The Lost Tribe Country [1936] Hedda Morrison Fisher Families With Junks In Aberdeen Harbor, Hong Kong Island [c1946] Hedda Morrison Men With Leopard At The Dongan Mission, China [1932] Fr. Otto Rauschenbach China's Common Carrier, Her Substitute For Railways, A Camel Square In Peking, China [1901] Underwood & Co