John Thomson (14 June 1837 - 29 September 1921) was a pioneering Scottish photographer; geographer and traveller. He was one of the first photographers to travel to the Far East; documenting the people; landscapes and artifacts of eastern cultures. Upon returning home; his work among the street people of London cemented his reputation; and is regarded as a classic instance of social documentary which laid the foundations for photojournalism. He went on to become a portrait photographer of High Society in Mayfair; gaining the Royal Warrant in 1881.

Thomson travelled extensively throughout China; from the southern trading ports of Hong Kong and Canton to the cities of Peking and Shanghai; to the Great Wall in the north; and deep into central China. From 1870 to 1871 he visited the Fukien region; travelling up the Min River by boat with the American Protestant missionary Reverend Justus Doolittle; and then visited Amoy and Swatow.

He went on to visit the island of Formosa (Taiwan) with the missionary Dr. James Laidlaw Maxwell; landing first in Takao in early April 1871. The pair visited the capital; Taiwanfu; before travelling on to the aboriginal villages on the west plains of the island. After leaving Formosa; Thomson spent the next three months travelling 3;000 miles up the Yangtze River; reaching Hupeh and Szechuan.

Thomson's travels in China were often perilous; as he visited remote; almost unpopulated regions far inland. Most of the people he encountered had never seen a Westerner or camera before. His expeditions were also especially challenging because he had to transport his bulky wooden camera; many large; fragile glass plates; and potentially explosive chemicals. He photographed in a wide variety of conditions and often had to improvise because chemicals were difficult to acquire. His subject matter varied enormously: from humble beggars and street people to Mandarins; Princes and senior government officials; from remote monasteries to Imperial Palaces; from simple rural villages to magnificent landscapes. Pictures From History