Three Chinese prisoners in wooden punishment collars, with guard

An uncaptioned black and white landscape photograph showing three Chinese prisoners in wooden punishment collars, with a guard. The four men stand in a row, facing the camera. The man on the left of image, presumably a guard, is standing with his right hand on his hip. He is wearing a jacket with a belt over the top, loose trousers and a funnel-shaped hat. The three prisoners stand to his left. The two on the right of the image are chained together, the one nearest the guard is not. All three have large hinged, square wooden collars around their necks around 3ft x 3ft in size. Each collar has an opening for the neck in the middle with a strip with Chinese characters either side. The prisoner in the middle is bare-heading and his plaited queue (pigtail) is hanging down over the collar; the men either side are wearing hats. Directly behind the four men is a low stone wall with a lip. Behind this various boats floating on water can be seen.

Punishment collars like this were often called ‘cangue’ by Europeans.