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[Chang Woo Gow, the Chinese giant with his wife]

documentary heritage
  • Description

    Carte de visite studio photograph of tall Chinese man and his wife seated and unidentified European figure standing.

  • Other Id

    67522 (Presto content ID)

    PH-TECH-575-8 (Reference Number)

    DU402.2 G722 (Library of Congress Call Number)

    PH-CNEG-C14168 (Copy negative number)

    150236 (DBTextworks system ID)

  • Department

Images and documents

Images

Catalogue

  • Object Type
  • Name/Title
    [Chang Woo Gow, the Chinese giant with his wife]
  • Primary Maker

     Archibald McDonald (Photographer)

  • Date
    1870s
  • Physical Description

    10x6.5cm carte de visite; 16x10 cm file copy print

  • Level of Current Record
    Single Item
  • Media/Materials
  • Technique
  • Subject Category
  • Public Access Text

    Carte de visite by Melbourne photographer A. McDonald.

    Wrongly identified as Sam Chew Lain, an Otago hotel keeper, and his wife. Sam Chew Lain's wife was a European called Emily Peacock.

    The Bankcroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, holds a Maybridge album containg images of the same Chinese couple. The captions read: Chang Woo Gow 8ft 3in high and wife; Chang Woo Gow the Chinese giant 8ft 3in. See correspondence dated 21 December 2000 in Photography subject file .

    The Hocken Library, Dunedin, holds a portrait of the Chinese couple both standing. This image was published in Opium and Gold, by Peter Butler, and identified as 'Sam Chew Lain, an Otago hotel-keeper, with his bride'.

    The Auckland photographer Bartlett secured a portarit of the Chinese couple in October 1870 and identified by Bill Main as 'Ming, the two metre giant, who toured New Zealand in in 1870'. [Photographer's Mail Feb. 2001 v.10 no2]

  • Subject Notes
    Born in Fuzhou, Fujian Province in the 1840s, Zhan Shichai, Stage name: Chang Woo Gow, toured the world as 'Chang the Chinese Giant'.
  • Copyright
    No known copyright restrictions
  • Last Update
    24 Apr 2024

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