The First Western Photographer in China
John Thomson’s Incredible Photos of the Far East
John Thomson: The Birth of an Adventurer
Born in Edinburgh in 1837, John Thomson attended university in his hometown — majoring in chemistry. Starting in the early 1860s, Thomson would travel throughout Asia — visiting Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia. With his brother William, he would set up a photography studio in Singapore.
During his travels throughout Asia, Thomson took pictures of the places he visited and famous figures such as King Mongkut (Rama IV) of Thailand and the King of Cambodia. And by 1866, Thomson was elected to the Royal Geographic Society and Royal Ethnological Society.
In the next two years, he would set up a photography studio in Hong Kong and began making many trips throughout China and Vietnam, where he would publish his famous Illustrations of China and Its People.
