The Trottoir Roulant in Chinese Media 游觀台
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Source Material for the Dianshizhai Piece
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2021-02-17T09:57:23-05:00
Nathaniel Isaacson
While some scholars, thrown off by a report of an event that would not occur until after the pictiorial had ended its print run, have speculated that Dianshizhai is mis-dated, it appears more likely that this image was produced around the year 1897. The following two articles appeared in the journals Cuibao, and Jichengbao in late 1897. The Dianshizhai Huabao article repeats the text of these two news items verbatim. Both journals in turn credit an article in the 11th lunar month in Subao 苏报, a late Qing newspaper produced in Shanghai that ran from 1896-1903, as their source.
The article from Jicheng bao above appeared in a section on “recent events from all countries” (各國近事). Jicheng bao attributes the text to Subao, in a section on foreign news (外史新聞).