Tianjin at the time of foreign concessions through the eyes of André Bontemps (1931-1935)
Résumé
Based on the cross-analysis of written and visual sources, this article aims to question the concept of transcultural mediation through the experiences of the French military in Tianjin, China. Due to the establishment of nine foreign concessions, Tianjin represented a very specific multicultural context in which there was a complex web of movements, interactions, and contacts between many different nationalities with their own cultural backgrounds. In this perspective, this study constitutes an attempt to analyze personal photographic and film materials taken by André Bontemps (1888-1969), a member of the French military colonial troops assigned to Tianjin from 1931 to 1935, through the construction of an historical visual narrative focusing on Bontemps’s role as an individual intermediary. In light of his own perception of the city and other written historical sources, the two concepts of transcultural and intercultural mediation will be examined for considering their relevance in Tianjin’s multicultural context. Additionally, exploring Bontemps’s material also raises a few practical questions about the construction of visual narratives and their historical meaning.