Old Qingdao Postcards: 1897~1914

Author: Lu You
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-05-01
Features: A Magical Journey Through a Century
There are some things that can retain their warmth for a long time, such as meeting Lu You. About two years ago, through the introduction of Liu Yong, an editor at Qingdao Publishing House, I met Lu You, a renowned stamp collector of Qingdao origin who lives in the United States, and some of the old postcards from Qingdao he treasured. To say it mildly, until today, I still feel excited about this encounter. This excitement that has lasted for over two years is not just because I unexpectedly met a gentle and refined fellow hometowner, but rather stems from the collection he painstakingly gathered over the years. When Mr. Lu displayed over four hundred weathered old postcards of Qingdao one by one, I was truly deeply moved. In Qingdao, in our city, these old postcards that traveled through a century and miraculously returned to their starting point have allowed me to embark on a discovery journey that transcends my own experience.
As an archivist, we often use the term "precious" to evaluate the value of archival documents. This "preciousness" is roughly reflected in four aspects: first, its original recording nature; second, its long existence; third, few copies (some even have no duplicates); and fourth, its high historical information value. The collection of postcards Mr. Lu has, gives me the feeling of being "invaluable." This judgment is by no means a denigration of the value of existing archival documents, but rather because these postcards not only possess the aforementioned qualities but also greatly enrich the discovered archives, filling many gaps in the existing historical records. These four hundred old postcards carry a vast amount of historical information, including the most representative landmarks in the early urban geography of Qingdao and typical social folk scenes. Almost all stages of the development of a young city have been unintentionally recorded. Here, not only is the geography, architecture, culture, and customs of the German-leased Jiaozhou Bay area focused on, but it also captures the oppression and humiliation the city once endured. These early historical scenes of Qingdao reveal many irreplaceable fragments of our city's growth journey. Although they cannot fully restore history before our eyes, they undoubtedly give us many new discoveries and bring us closer to our city in terms of temporal and spatial distance.
These frozen scenes on each piece of paper roughly present Qingdao around the early 1920s. This period was crucial for Qingdao to form its urban and unique urban character, as well as the foundation for becoming an important commercial port in eastern China. During this time, Qingdao opened the door to modernization, gained a port that connected it to the world and a railway network that extended into its hinterland, becoming a beautiful and livable city with a distinct personality. Clearly, this foundation and development were driven by the German Empire's plot to build an "Oriental Paradise" through military aggression, a grafting based on an unequal reality, which inflicted harm on the Chinese nation, the effects of which we still remember to this day a hundred years later. However, today, after enduring more storms and, when this harm has largely transformed into a historical warning, these invaluable postcards have become carriers of memory, serving as physical icons that annotate or connect the early history of our city.
These old postcards sent from Qingdao a hundred years ago have returned to their starting point today after a century, which should be a blessing for our city. All of this naturally thanks to Mr. Lu You. Now, Qingdao Publishing House has decided to publish this batch of invaluable historical documents, further reflecting their respect for Qingdao's humanistic history and their cultural philosophy of serving society. Grateful to Mr. Lu and Qingdao Publishing House for entrusting me with the tasks of editing and annotation, I have had the opportunity to handle and study many old photographs of Qingdao through my work. However, many scenes on these old postcards were new to me. Over the past few months, I have searched extensively for all the places recorded in the photographs, striving to immerse myself in the context of that time to approach historical truth as closely as possible. Regrettably, most places have changed beyond recognition, and many areas have become something entirely different, which has made the interpretation and identification of these old postcards much more challenging. During the later identification, organization, and classification of these postcards, I consulted many local history experts, including Mr. Lu Hai, and my friends, Mr. Li Ming, a humanistic and historical researcher, and Mr. Wang Dong, also provided great help. At the same time, the translation by Professors Xia Shuchen and Zhou Ping has also brought us closer to these postcards. I believe that the selfless support of many dedicated individuals, including those mentioned above, has laid a solid foundation for me to finally complete the interpretation work.
During the collection of old Qingdao postcards, Mr. Lu did not deliberately categorize them, so although the content is extensive, the editing is challenging. To facilitate readers' appreciation and research, I have tentatively divided these old postcards into five parts: "Local Heritage," "European Flair City," "Urban Construction," "Colonial Rule," and "Others." This classification method undoubtedly has many unreasonable aspects, and some photo classifications and annotations are not entirely accurate. Additionally, due to the temporal and spatial gap between the time the photographs were taken and their current existence, there are some differences in the descriptions provided by the photographers or postcard publishers at the time and our current understanding. Therefore, during the annotation and editing process, I only partially referenced the original descriptions, while the majority of the annotations are my personal judgments and perceptions. If there are any errors in the interpretation, they should naturally be attributed to me.
It is worth noting that most of the postcards collected here were sent by German soldiers and European residents who lived in Qingdao at the time to convey greetings to their hometowns. I believe that deciphering these brief personal messages from a century ago can make many details of a city's development history clearer and more tangible today. However, due to personal limitations and time constraints, the study and interpretation of this information must be temporarily set aside.