Fred Rountree Riding in a Wooden Chair

Item

Title
Fred Rountree Riding in a Wooden Chair See all items with this value
Caption
Pekin Chairmen at Shashi See all items with this value
Identifier
SEFA_051
Alternative Identifier
Simpson Album p10
Description
Fred Rountree is tucked tightly into a wooden chair carried on bamboo poles by two men. The man in front appears to be wearing a Western-style fedora hat with bamboo sandals. The chair is in poor condition with holes on both sides. See all items with this value
Commentary
Fred Rountree was the architect who designed the WCUU campus. He traveled with EKS's party up the Yangtze River from Yichang to Wanhsien (Wanxian). A webpage about Fred Rountree's work at WCUU presents this same photo with the caption, "Fred Rountree Arriving at Chentu," although it is very unlikely this is at Chengdu. The location at Shashi is most likely correct because that is not the type of chair typically used in Sichuan. Another possibility, however, is that the photo was taken at Wanxian where Rountree hired chairmen to take the overland route to Chengdu. The Rountrees could have given this photo to E. Kyle Simpson when the Rountrees passed by his post at Luzhou on their way back from Chengdu to Chongqing in May 1913. See all items with this value
Creator
George Rountree
Date Created
1913-03-04 (at Shashi) or 1913-03-22 (at Wanxian)
Location
Shashi, Jingzhou, Hubei or Wanxian, Sichuan See all items with this value
Geonames
https://www.geonames.org/1795816/shashi.html
https://www.geonames.org/1791746/wanzhou-district.html
Event
1913 Dr. E. Kyle Simpson's First Yangtze River Voyage
Original Format
Photographic print
Is Part Of
Simpson-Estabrook Photo Album
Source
Courtesy of Kyle Jolliffe
Provenance
E. Kyle Simpson photos curated by Alice Estabrook Simpson - captions written by her. In the care of Kyle Jolliffe. See all items with this value
Access Rights
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en
Publisher
SIUE
Record Date
2026-09-28
Contributor
Cory Willmott; Kyle Jolliffe; Richenda George; Andrew George
Type
Still Image
References
"Arrived at Shasi at 10.30am, shore excursion."
Richenda George, Ed. Architectural Oddysey: Fred Rountree's Letters from China (AJTG Press, 2024)
Published In
Pictures and documents relating to Chengtu University West China University, Chengtu, Szechwan. Built about by 1912 - Architect Fred Rowntree & Sons
Media
SEFA_051_Simpson Album p10 Peking Chairmen at Shashi.jpg
Resource class
Image