History in Black-and-White, Friendship in Exchanges

A set of black and white photos taken in China during the 1930's have been given to the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the United States. The photos are special gifts from Richard Garrison, a retired officer of the US Department of State.

The set of 24 photos show a glimpse of the then China including street scenes, landscape and historical landmarks, such as the Great Wall, as well as the lives of ordinary people. They were produced and published by the Keystone View Company and belonged to Garrison's mom, who used to be a teacher in Tecumseh, a small town in Nebraska. About half a century ago, she used them to teach her students about China. It was also these photos that inspired the family to visit the country far away in the 1980s. To remember his mom and make better use of the photos, Garrison decided to gift them to the Chinese Embassy, and he hopes that more people would have a chance to see these precious photos.

Minister Wu Xi of the Chinese Embassy expressed appreciation and gratitude to Garrison on behalf of the Embassy. "The Embassy really cherishes this precious gift and will share it with more people in both China and the U.S.," she said. She also noted that the Chinese and American people have always had friendly exchanges. These photos witnessed such friendly exchanges and relations between the two peoples, even at a time with limited communication technologies.