Outside Chang Man Gate, Peking

This print depicts the area outside one of the gates in Beijing's historic wall system, showing the urban life that accumulated at the city's threshold — vendors, travelers, camels, or carts moving through the gate or encamped in its shadow. The Zhengyangmen and other major gates of Peking were gathering points for trade and transit, and Keith observed this activity with characteristic anthropological interest. The gate structure itself would dominate the upper portion of the composition, its crenellated battlements and tile-capped towers rendered with architectural specificity. The foreground activity — figures, animals, merchandise — would be organized in registers typical of panoramic architectural prints. Printed in collaboration with Watanabe Shozaburo, the color palette likely emphasizes the dusty ochres and weathered greys of the gate stonework against a clear or subtly graded sky.