Journey to the Old Orient

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About Journey to the Old Orient

This group was started because I enjoy collecting and viewing old photographs of Asia. By "Asia" I mean the whole continent, from Istanbul to Tokyo and everything in between. Even Egypt and North Africa were considered by many Westerners to be "the Orient" in the old days, so photos of these places are acceptable too.

Since I have to draw the line somewhere, for this group I think Australia and Oceania will not be considered "The Orient". This because things will start getting blurry! For example, where does Oceania end and South America begin? Some think the culture of Easter Island is the former; others the latter, so let's draw an imaginary line and leave out anything south and east of New Guinea, agreed?

Photos and travel ephemera (such as old luggage labels) are welcome here, as long as they are pre-World War II. Exceptions can be made -- I have seen some great 1950s-era photos out there too -- but the emphasis shall be on the golden age of travel in the Orient: 1890-1940.

The filter for this group is set at "moderate" instead of the default "safe" filter. That is because I am looking for images that reflect how Asia and Asians were seen through the eyes of somebody's non-Asian great-grandparents -- a far-off and otherworldly place; cradle of the world's oldest civilizations and birthplace of mankind's greatest religions; lands of charm and cruelty that were at turns achingly beautiful and willfully ugly; sometimes shocking but never, ever predictable!

Edward Said might have described this as an "orientalist view of the Orient," but that crusty bard of British imperialism, Rudyard Kipling, said it best in his poem, Mandalay:

Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren't no Ten Commandments an' a man can raise a thirst...

So if you are keen on a bit of old-timey exotic adventure, don your pith helmet, get a good grip on your swagger stick and enjoy this Journey to the Old Orient!

-- stevechasmar