A Manchu Bride
Photograph by John Thomson
Thomson took many photographs of Manchu
brides and their magnificent wedding costumes. In this example he
adopted a style that is both discreet and intimate, showing his
sensitivity towards the sitter. The glimpse of sadness in her eyes
reflects a gloomy view of a Manchu bride's prospects in marriage:
for Thomson it was reckoned a life of slavery, in which the wife
"is even liable to be beaten by her mother-in-law, and husband too,
if she neglects to discharge her duties as general domestic
drudge".