LAI Fong 賴阿芳 (c.1839-1890) was 'the pre-eminent nineteenth-century Chinese photographer, especially gifted in both landscape and portrait work, working as a commercial photographer in Hong Kong from 1870, possibly as early as 1859'. Source: Terry Bennett's History of Photography in China - Chinese Photographers - 1844-1879, Quaritch 2013 (see pp66-98). Lai used 'Afong' as his commercial name and the Afong Studio continued in business until the 1940s. Lai Fong photographed extensively around the area of Fuzhou in 1869 and 1870. The Scottish photographer, John Thomson, whose Hong Kong studio was established later in the same street as Lai Fong, said he was 'a man of exquisite taste' who 'produces work that would enable him to make a living even in London'. Lai Afong is not to be confused with Ah Fong or Jim Fong. Lai Fong was the subject of a 2020 exhibition, 'Lai Fong (Ca. 1839–1890): Photographer of China', organized by the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, co-curated by Dr Kate Addleman-Frankel, Gary and Ellen Davis Curator of Photography at the Museum, and Stacey Lambrow. See also Exhibition Video – Lai Fong (c.1839-1890): Photographer of China (Loewentheil China Photography Collection) and Photography in Hong Kong – Chapter 6 of History of Photography in China: Chinese Photographers 1844-1879 by Terry Bennett (Gwulo: Old Hong Kong).
