1930 Canton: Tode’s China View

This 1930 silent travelogue, 1930 Canton, China, an unedited black-and-white 16mm film by Arthur and Kate Tode, captures pre-revolution Canton (now Guangdong) during their world tour. It opens with people in traditional dress—flowing robes and conical hats—followed by countryside vistas and rice paddies glimpsed from a train window, likely en route to Guangzhou. In an unidentified city (possibly Guangzhou), jerky shots from a moving car or rickshaw reveal bustling street life—vendors, rickshaws, and men playing cards outside. A temple’s ornate roofs emerge, and an upper-class Chinese family, dressed finely as tourists, poses amid the scenes, offering a raw, intimate peek at 1930s China.