The book is a remarkable collection of historical images taken between 1896 and 1925 by Auguste François, the French Consul General in Kunming. Featuring over 300 high‑resolution photographs made with early wet‑plate technology, the book vividly reconstructs the urban layout, street life, architecture, and diverse inhabitants of Kunming—from its canal‑crossed rural fringes to bustling tea stalls, from imposing ancient gate towers to peddlers and laborers going about their daily routines. As much a work of visual documentation as a quiet gaze from an outsider, these images fill a crucial gap in modern visual history of Southwest China and preserve the last face of a bygone era. It is an invaluable visual archive for anyone studying the social landscape of old Kunming.

Fully illustrated with black/white photos, text in Chinese.

2000, Yunnan Fine Arts Publishing House, hardcover, 280 pp., 27*29.5cm, in a very good condition.