Trying to establish the time period of this photograph.
I sent a copy of the photo to my son, a Chinese translator in the military for around 10 years, and he reported back that the letters over "Alice" say "Doroosevelt's daughter, Alice, in Western Australian." Could that be any help? I haven't seen any response stating the photo was taken in China.
That doesn't provide any indication of when the photo was taken though.
PhotogHobbyist wrote:
I sent a copy of the photo to my son, a Chinese translator in the military for around 10 years, and he reported back that the letters over "Alice" say "Doroosevelt's daughter, Alice, in Western Australian." Could that be any help? I haven't seen any response stating the photo was taken in China.
That doesn't provide any indication of when the photo was taken though.
Actually the Chinese characters come in 2 parts. The first 3 characters are phonetic translations for "Theodore". While the characters are the same, it has nothing to do with West Australia. The second 3 characters are phonetic translation for "Roosevelt".
bittermelon wrote:
Actually the Chinese characters come in 2 parts. The first 3 characters are phonetic translations for "Theodore". While the characters are the same, it has nothing to do with West Australia. The second 3 characters are phonetic translation for "Roosevelt".
Thanks for the explanation. Because Chinese language does not have an alphabet I assume that employing a system such as you described is how they can organize documents like a phone book or catalog etc. A phone book would be structured based on the sound of a name. Is that correct?
Actually Chinese phone books are sorted by the number of strokes for the characters of each last names, starting with the simplest last name to the most complex. For example, the character for the last name "Ding" has only 2 strokes, so all the Dings are listed first, and so on. Actually, Chinese phone books are pretty useless because so many people share the same last names. It did not make much difference however, as few Chinese people had phones until recently. When more people begin to acquire phones, cellphones became popular and there is no need for any printed phone books.
bittermelon wrote:
Supposedly this is a photograph of the Chinese Empress Dowager Cixi and Alice Roosevelt, daughter of Teddy, taken in 1862. The timing is not right, as Alice was not born until 1884, and toured Asia, including China, in 1905. Whereas Cixi died in 1908. If the woman on the left is indeed Alice Roosevelt, then the woman on the right is not Cixi. This could be a significant photograph. Cixi is a major player during the late Qing dynasty, and ruled China for 45 years behind a very young emperor. Supposedly, this is the only photograph of Cixi as a young mother.
I also question the quality of this photograph, if it was indeed taken in 1862.
Supposedly this is a photograph of the Chinese Emp... (
show quote)
There are many images of Alice Lee Roosevelt Longworth. The woman pictured looks nothing like her.
Just checked Wikipedia:
"Theodore Roosevelt Jr. born October 27, 1858."
If that photo was taken in 1862, that would not be Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter because Teddy was born on 27 October 1858.
If you want to reply, then
register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.