Around China with a Movie Camera

Explore China in the early 1900s with this programme of rare and beautiful travelogues, newsreels and home movies.

Take a trip back to China in the first half of the 20th century with this programme of extraordinary, rare and beautiful travelogues, newsreels and home movies, screened with a brand new live score by composer Ruth Chan.

These films, all from the BFI’s National Archive, were made by a wealth of British and French filmmakers – from professionals to intrepid tourists, colonial-era expatriates and Christian missionaries. Exploring 50 years of Chinese history across a diverse range of footage, the collection includes what might be the oldest surviving film to be shot in China, unseen for over 115 years.