Photography album 19th-20th century

This anonymous album of photographs documents a gruesome scene: the execution of the "Nam Hoa pirates" in Kowloon City, China, on May 15, 1891. The image, likely hand-tinted in the 19th or 20th century, shows the bodies laid out on the ground, with the heads severed and displayed alongside them. The photograph’s stark realism and graphic nature highlight the brutal realities of colonial punishment in late-19th century China.