Photography Summer Carriage

A black-and-white photograph showing a donkey with a cart on a street in Beijing. The sides and roof of the cart are made of bamboo tarpaulins. They provide deep shade on hot summer days. The animal keeper usually walks beside the cart and steers the animal. The basic structure, dating back to 1200 B.C., is a classic square chariot with a wheel on each side. The motif of the square and the circle is widely used in Chinese culture, as it symbolises the whole world, which consists of heaven (circle) and earth (square). One of the most famous uses of this motif in China is for coins.

For many centuries, Chinese civilization was “driven” by donkeys, mules, horses, cows, oxen, and people. Among the most common subjects of early photographers in China were the various means of transportation, including the two-wheeled carts or carriages of Beijing, which were more comfortable than one-wheeled wheelbarrows, but less comfortable than sedan chairs.

The photograph is the 128th of 449 photographs of Beijing and its surroundings in the album of Ivan Skušek Jr., purchased during his stay in Beijing (1914–1920). In the handwritten inventory of the album, the photograph is referred to as Sommer-Wagen. (DZ, MV)