A corner of the Forbidden City wall and moat

This is one of a large number of photographs that were taken by Hedda Morrison (1908-1991) during her years of residence in Peking (Beijing), China 1933-1946.

Exhibited in 'An Asian experience: 1933-67', organised by the Asian Studies Association of Australia, Fisher Library Foyer, University of Sydney, 12-30 May 1986.

Reproduced in Hedda Morrison, 'A photographer in Old Peking', Hong Kong, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1985, p. 37, with the caption: 'A corner of the Forbidden City wall and moat'.

Black and white photograph showing two boys stand at the edge of a moat surrounding the Forbidden City or Imperial Palace. A heavily pruned willow tree is at the right of the image in the foreground and another tree with full hanging branches and leaves frames the top of the image. People are walking along or fishing from a low wall on the far side of the moat and a higher wall sits behind it. Behind the high outer wall we can see the roof of a palace within the palace grounds. After the collapse of the Manchu-Qing dynasty in 1911 and the departure of the last members of the imperial family, the Forbidden City (Zijin cheng) was opened to the public as the Palace Museum (Gugong bowuyuan) in 1925.

Photographed: Morrison, Hedda; Beijing, China

Made: 1933 - 1946

92/1414-198

339 mm

286 mm