ENGLISH QUARTER, CITY OF HONG KONG, CHINA.

The last of three images of Hong Kong from the Royal Photograph Gallery, introduced by John Clark Ridpath and published in New York in June 1893. The publisher's aim was "to select and preserve the best" photographic materials and "to reproduce... the most striking aspects of the natural world and the highest and most beautiful works of man."

This substantial volume of more than 460 pages was almost certainly a wedding gift to my great-grandparents Henry Fine Chong (Cheng Fan Chong) and Lily May Ah Poo, who were married in Parramatta, NSW, in June 1896.

This photograph was scanned from pages 113 of  the Gallery's eleven-page section devoted to China, and is curiously captioned:

ENGLISH QUARTER, CITY OF HONG KONG, CHINA.
The recent decision of the United States Supreme Court, that the "Geary Law," for the exclusion of the Chinese is valid, has created more or less interest in China, its people, and their manners and customs. China hopes, however, that the threatened evil may be averted.–The English quarters selected by the subjects of Queen Victoria in the city of Hong Kong, China, exhibits excellent discretion on their part, for it is one of the most delightfully pleasant spots in or about that city.

A digitised, public domain version of the Royal Photograph Gallery is available to read on-line or download from OpenLibrary.org (see https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7170043M/Royal_photograph_gallery )