Subscribe today using voucher code SUMMER22 for an extended free trial

This film is part of Free

Foo-chow, China

Bustling, fluttering and swaying – wonderful visual details of daily life in a street in Fuzhou (then Foo-chow), Fujian Province in South East China.

Non-Fiction 1921 2 mins Silent

Overview

Shot from a single vantage point, this film of everyday life in metropolitan Fuzhou (formerly known as Foo-chow), a coastal city in South East China, is crammed with fascinating details. We see horse and carts, litter chairs and pedestrians hurry by (including a man with an impossible cargo of precariously balanced chairs), while others stop still, captivated by the presence of the camera.

The characters above the main archway translate as β€œWholesale traders of high quality five-spice powder”, while other signs advertise financial aid.