Study the range of prison photos on this website. What are some of the things you notice about the appearance and clothing of this set of Chinese prisoners? List these observations. Compare your list with the lists made by other class members. Suggest reasons for similarities and differences with the clothing worn by Europeans at that time.

Did you notice that:

• Many of the Chinese are quite different in appearance to one another. This is because they came from different parts of China.
• Some are wearing their traditional clothes (Mandarin jackets). Others are wearing regulation prison clothes-shirt, waist coat and jacket with a neck scarf.
• Many have their queue or long, pigtail plait. The queue was very important to them as their emperor wore a queue. Cutting off the pigtail meant that those people would never be able to return home to China and that they would be outcasts in their community.
• Some prisoners’ photos show that they suffered from small pox. Small pox was a highly infectious disease and often resulted in death especially among the young. Europeans thought Chinese spread the disease. It was another source of tension between the races.

Did you know that:

• In China protestors cut their pigtails in defiance of the government. Also some prisoners would have their pigtails removed by authorities to mark them as outsiders for life!
• Prison regulations in Victoria stated that people who were in prison for more than 3 months were to have their heads shaved. The Chinese greatly resented this rule. However it was relaxed by the prisons and they were allowed to keep their queue or plait. (Source: Diaries of J B Castieau, Governor Melbourne Gaol, 1874)

Activities:

• Study the different styles of clothes worn by Chinese people in the 19th century. Search for photographs or drawings of Chinese people. Try to include different types of people from different parts of China and different social classes such as a worker, mandarin, and the emperors’ clothes to illustrate these differences. From what materials were each of these items of clothing made? Why were some types of material only used by wealthier people? Can you find any evidence to show that clothes were made to suit the local environment and climate as well as the type of work people did?
• Investigate the process for making silk starting with the silk worm. Prepare a visual representation to help explain this process. Annotate each stage to explain what happens at each stage of the process.
• How can you tell from looking at the photographs which person had suffered from small pox? Why has this happened?
• Students list contagious diseases that we no longer have to worry about or for which the risk level has been reduced. Investigate one or more of these contagious diseases, explaining its causes, symptoms and cures that have been used at different times. Find out about the work of Edward Jenner and Louis Pasteur. What do these words mean: contamination, contagious, immunization, immunity?
• Teach one another how to plait rope. (The same process is used with hair)
• Investigate the different types of plaiting used in rope making. Find out what materials are used for rope making today. Which of these materials would not have been used in the period covered by this exhibition (1870 - 1900)?
• In small groups, discuss how you would feel if people laughed at you because you looked different. Record the reactions of the members of your group. Discuss whether or not this happens today. Why might people laugh at others today? Do you agree or disagree with this type of behaviour? Why or why not? What can you do if you find yourself in a situation where this is happening at school or at home? Did this discussion help you to better understand what was happening to Chinese people in nineteenth century Victoria? Would their reactions have been similar to yours? Why or why not?

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