Peking, Pechili province, China: a magic lantern show. Photograph by John Thomson, 1869.

A mother and child looking into a large box mounted on a light timber frame in the street. An attendant looks on beside the box. The children are looking at a peep show, a form of amusement very popular before television. The operator standing on the right could move the slats of painted glass that are visible from the side of the box, so providing the illusion of human figures or animals passing through a landscape. Magic lantern shows were a novelty in China in the late 1860s. The lantern was considered 'truly ingenious beyond belief', and it soon attracted a mass popular audience. People in China who had never travelled could learn about foreign places through the slide show, discovering the world beyond the confines of their home village or region. Often a showman delivered a running commentary on the mysterious scenes as he introduces them; sometimes there was even music accompaniment. To attract customers, many presenters also included a few images of naked women in the middle or at the end of a show