The Manchu aristocrat YU Xunling (勋龄 ; Yu Hsün Ling) (1874-1943) picked up photography as a hobby in Tokyo and then learnt more in Paris, where his father, Yu Geng served as the Chinese Ambassador from 1899 to 1902. Yu Xunling, as the 'Imperial Photographer', later took many photographs of the Empress Dowager Cixi. Yu Xunling was the brother of “Princess” Der Ling (裕德齡; Elizabeth Antoinette White), whose books about court life featured his photographs. Forty-four of Yu Xunling’s negatives are held by Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA. See ‘Piety and Power: The Theatrical Images of Empress Dowager Cixi’ by David Hogge (2011).