| Carte de Visite Pun Lun - Photographer Queen's Road, Hong Kong c. 1880s This photograph bears a faint pencil notation on its reverse side identifying the photographer as Pun Lun of Queen's Road, Hong Kong. The helmeted, bespectacled man in the sedan chair is unidentified and his occupation uncertain. He could have been a soldier, magistrate, or landowner. Although images of Europeans being transported by local inhabitants in such a manner bespeaks of colonialism, it should be noted that such methods of transportation existed locally - usually for the social elites - long before the arrival of Europeans. It is true that methods of transportation such as sedan chairs would be adopted by colonial rulers as a means of reaffirming their superior position in colonial society. |
