Photos from the Late Qing Dynasty

Satisfying our craving for old China photographs, the BBC has put up some online versions of rare 19th Century prints that recently went on display in Beijing.

The photos were taken by John Thomson, a Scot who visited China from 1868 to 1872, the later years of the Qing Dynasty.

At that time, China was under the control (if not officially) of the Empress Dowager Cixi, and had been severely weakened by civil unrest - the largest of movements being the Taiping Rebellion, which claimed between 20 and 30 million lives - and foreign pressure.

See the entire gallery here.