City workers watering a street (dust control), Peking

University of Bristol - Historical Photographs of China reference number: Ru-s075. Men watering the streets with big wooden ladles and a tub on a pole. There's a description of this form of dust control on page 118 of An Adventurous Journey by Mrs Alec-Tweedie (Thornton Butterworth, revised edition 1929). The shop in the background may sell paint or coloured dyes. This image was published in the 1920s, as a colourised post card, by Camera Craft Co., Peking and captioned: "Street sprinkling in Peking, China". The post card is reproduced in Old Beijing – Postcards from the Imperial City by Felicitas Titus (Tuttle, 2012) on page 113. Photograph probably by John David Zumbrun. See JC-s291, Mi01-057 and Sw06-132.