Tung Hing Studio

Tung Hing Studio
Cliff Face of Tianyou Peak, Fujian
c.1875
Albumen print
22 cm x 29 cm
The landscape photographers of Tung Hing Studio were among the most original and innovative of the nineteenth-century. The firm’s topographical photographs reveal a unique sensitivity which recollects Chinese landscape painting. Certainly, the timeless beauty of this photograph of Tianyou Peak places the Tung Hing Studio at the forefront of artists who bridged the new technology of photography with Chinese pictorial traditions.
This is one of the earliest photographs of the grand cliff face of Tianyou Peak. This view shows Jiuqu (Nine-Bend) River, flowing through a gorge in the Wuyi Mountains. Situated along this river are numerous temples and monasteries, many now in ruins. This scenic part of Fujian attracts many visitors today as it has through the centuries.