Photos of Colonel Pinger Travels and Lincheng Outrage

China/Japan, 1923, comprising: 83 black and white photos, 75 depicting the travels of Roland and Miriam Pinger and their two young sons, Roland Jr. and Edward throughout China and Japan, eight depicting the Lincheng Outrage and subsequent kidnapping of the Pinger family on May 6, 1923; 75 images depict various locations including the Forbidden City, Hong Kong, the Great Wall of China, Summer Palace, Ming tombs, Mukden and Kyoto, Japan, some with notes to verso, various sizes, one stamped "Copyright Photograph by Mactavish & Co., Ltd. Shanghai", largest 5 x 3-1/4 in.; seven images depict scenes from the Lincheng Outrage, including the derailed train and one portrait of Colonel Pinger at Pautzeku boiling dishes in the bandit camp, notes to verso, largest 4-1/2 x 3-1/8 in.

Provenance: Private Collection, San Francisco, California

Note: For an article on Colonel R.W. Pinger's experience in China, see article "A Pilgrimage to Pautzeku: Chinese Bandits Capture Ordnance Officer, Army Ordnance, Washington, D.C., January-February 1924, Vol. IV, No. 22".

Lincheng Outrage: On May 6, 1923, twelve hundred bandits, mostly former soldiers under General Zhang Jingyao, led by Sun Meiyao derailed and attacked the "Blue Express" near the town of Lincheng on the Tianjin-Pukou Railway in Shandong Province. The bandits looted the train and killed a number of passengers. They took over 200 passengers hostage, including 25 westerners, most of whom were Americans. The hostages were forced on a ten day march to the bandits' mountain base at Pautzeku and were released after 37 days.
Condition Report: slight bending to photos, some with toning/foxing, a few minor creases