Photo 1116/2(1)

Genre: Architectural Photography

View looking along the courtyard towards the main building, with students' cells on either side. The accompanying letterpress caption note reads: 'No. 319. The Examination Hall or Koong Yuin, as it is called, at Canton contains 7500 celles, measuring four feet by three, and high enough to stand up in; the furniture consists of two boards, one for sitting, and the other contrived to serve both for an eating table and writing desk. The cells are arranged around a number of open Courts, receiving all their light and air from the central area and exposed to the observation of the soldiers who guard the place, and watch that no one has the least intercourse with the imprisoned students. Confinement in this cramped position, where it is impossible to lie down, is exceedingly irksome, and is said to cause the death of many old syudents, who are unable to go through the fatigue, but who still enter the arena in hopes of at last succeeding. The characters on each of the cells indicate the particular place for each student.'

[Albumen print, 278x212mm].

Subjects = Chinese architecture; public buildings