Professor Emeritus Dov Bing, of the University of Waikato presented a lecture on the amazing story of the extended Bing/Baer families in China and Japan from 1867 till 1920. This lecture includes the showing of a very rare collection of photos of China in the 1870s and 1880s which were shown for the first time.
These photos include a number of photographs taken by European photographer Thomas Child [1841 − 1898] who was an engineer who worked from 1870 until 1889 in Beijing for the Imperial Maritime Customs Service. Most of these photographs were made between 1875 and 1880 from Beijing and surroundings. This collection is very rare.
Professor Bing related the recovery of the family collection in the possession of a Bing descendant in Montevideo. Hundreds of photos were in the archive along with hand-written letters from family members, as well as paintings etc.
It was a fascinating tale of history and recovery of family memoirs.
