The Great Sacrificial Hall at the Tomb of Yung-lo

What it is

This is a black-and-white photograph by John Thomson, dated to before 1898. It shows the Great Sacrificial Hall at the Tomb of the Yongle Emperor. A tiled, multi-tiered roof with upturned eaves sits above a stone-walled hall with dark doorways and shuttered windows. A stone path leads to the hall between grassy areas, with marble balustrades and carved posts at the front. A man in light clothing leans on a marble railing on the left. The photograph comes with a printed text by Thomson, quoted in the Commons record.

Why it matters

The hall stands at the tomb of the Yongle Emperor, and Thomson's text says imperial offerings were still made there to the emperor of a former dynasty. He writes that the Manchu emperors made these offerings to the Ming sovereigns but gave little attention to the buildings. The text describes weeds growing over the marble and the hall's large teak pillars. The words are Thomson's own view, not the emperor's. They show how a foreign photographer saw the tomb in the late 1800s.

Look closer

• What does the overgrown marble suggest about how the site was cared for?
• Whose view of the tomb does this photograph and text present, and whose view is missing?
• What might the man leaning on the railing tell you about the scale of the hall?