December, 1941.

75 years ago tensions were high as war with Japan seemed inevitable. On December 8th, those fears were confirmed when Japanese planes attacked Kai Tak, and Japanese soldiers crossed the border into the New Territories. The fighting continued until the British surrendered on Christmas Day.

I had it in my head that this year is the tenth anniversary of Gwulo, but it turns out to be both older and younger than that.

2002 - The beginning: do you remember Gwulo's ancestor, Batgung.com ?

Way back in 2002, two years before Facebook appeared, blogs were the hot topic on the internet.

Terry Bennett has written a three-volume history of photography in China in the nineteenth century. He has previously shared a chapter about early Chinese photographers in Hong Kong, and today he is back with two chapters about the Western photographers.

The first chapter documents the very first commercial photographers in Hong Kong, starting with Mr George West. Sadly, none of his photos are known to have survived, but his watercolours remain as evidence of his abilities: