John Thomson (1837-1921) was one of the most important British photographers of the 19th Century, and was also one of the first British photographers to travel to the Far East. Now his works have become precious reference materials for the research related to social sciences and humanities in oriental countries at that time.

The exhibition is divided into two parts: the first part - Journal of China: Illustrations of Late Qing Dynasty under John Thomson’s Eyes - displays his photography collection ‘Illustrations of China and its People’ published in London in 1873-1874. These wet-plate photos were taken in China between 1868 and 1872; as traditional printing technology could not clearly print the photos, Thomson adopted an innovative Collotype printing technology with high resolution. The collection contains over 200 photos taken in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Macao and around China.

The second part - Stories of a Travelling Darkroom: Wet-Plate Photography by Wong Ho Sang - enables exhibition-goers to understand the photographic method of the times Thomas lived in. This part displays the wet-plate photography works that Wong Ho Sang specially shot for this exhibition, as well as the relevant equipment, which includes three wooden large format wet-plate cameras from the 1890s, 1960s and 2013, respectively.