A hundred years later …
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Western countries, driven by the pursuit of natural resources, economic gain, and a “civilizing mission,” embarked on a period of intense territorial expansion and exploration. Among their many endeavors was the discovery and collection of plant species previously unknown to the West. Governments and institutions dispatched botanists and plant hunters to remote regions of the world, including East Asia.
Following the Opium War in 1860, previously inaccessible areas of western and central China became open to foreign explorers, offering new opportunities for botanical discovery. One of the most renowned plant hunters of this era was Ernest Henry Wilson. During his career, Wilson undertook four major expeditions to China: the first two (1899–1902 and 1903–1906) on behalf of the horticultural firm Messrs. Veitch, and the latter two (1907–1909 and 1910–1911) for Harvard University’s Arnold Arboretum.
In addition to being a botanist, Wilson was also an accomplished photographer. For his expeditions, Charles Sprague Sargent, Director of the Arboretum, equipped Wilson with a large-format Sanderson whole-plate field camera – capable of capturing detailed and undistorted images of vast landscapes. Today, the Arnold Arboretum holds a significant collection of Wilson’s photographs, which were digitized by Imaging Services between 2004 and 2006 and may be found in Hollis Images. For more on Arnold Arboretum’s Wilson collection, please see Ernest Henry Wilson (1876-1930) papers, 1896-2017: Guide.
<- Cherries, spring, Sargent and Wilson, 1915
Arnold Arboretum Horticultural Library (Jamaica Plain) AAV-01363 AAV
In 1997, a Chinese ecologist named Yin Kaipu came across Wilson’s photographs in the biography “Chinese” Wilson: A Life of Ernest H. Wilson, 1876–1930. He realized that he had visited many of the same locations captured in the images. Inspired by this connection, he conceived a bold idea: to retrace Wilson’s steps and rephotograph the same locations to study changes in the ecological environment, cultural landscape, and human impact over the past century.
Yin Kaipu during a scientific research
Maoxian County, Sichuan, China
Oct. 27, 2014 ->
Mr. Yin began his journey in 2002. After eight years of arduous fieldwork, he compiled and published Tracing One Hundred Years of Change: Illustrating the Environmental Changes in Western China. His collection of more than 2,400 comparative photographs — known as the Yin Kaipu Rephotography Archive — is now housed in the Archives of the Arnold Arboretum.
Here are a couple of locations pictured by Mr. Wilson and Mr. Yin.
About the Wilson photograph (left):
Northeast of Tachien-lu. Alpine meadows of the Ta-p’ao-shan Range from pass. Altitude 15,200 ft.
Repository: Arnold Arboretum Horticultural Library (Jamaica Plain) AAE-02282
Perm link: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/images/olvwork287982/catalog
Image URL: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:ARB.JPLIB:586896?buttons=Y
About the Yin Kaipu photograph (right):
In the old photo, this valley in Danba County is on the way to Mt. Dapao from the north. On its left slope there is a small path, the Ancient Tea-Horse Road to Kangding at the pass of Mt. Dapao. At the bottom of the valley, the curved white line marks the headwater of the Kuiyong River.
The new photo shows that the whole valley has no change. There is less water in the stream, perhaps because the photographs were taken in different seasons. Some gulches are larger on the left slope.
About the Wilson photograph (left):
Populus suaveolens Fischer trees (No. 4577). Min Valley, South of Sungpan, Northwestern Szechuan, China. Two fine old Poplars with cantilever bridge. Altitude 8800 ft.
Repository: Arnold Arboretum Horticultural Library (Jamaica Plain) AAE-03106
Perm link: http://id.lib.harvard.edu/images/olvwork293673/catalog
Image URL: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:ARB.JPLIB:866187?buttons=y
About the Yin Kaipu photograph (right):
The old photo shows a poplar tree (Populus cathayana) and a wooden bridge by the Minjiang River in Kintangguan, Songpan County. On the right is the Ancient Tea-Horse Road where two men are standing with their horses.
In the new photo, the background is the same, but the wooden bridge has been rebuilt as an iron one. The poplar is still growing and is much bigger; it is now 1.2 meters in diameter at breast height.