#early color photography
The photo originally appeared in the November 1928 issue of National Geographic. The original caption was: “With huge cadaver masks, imitation tiger-skin skirts, and enormous claws, this performer and his seven similarly garbed companions strike terror to the hearts of spectators in the Old Dance. They are assistants of Showa the Deer, messenger of Yama”. The picture was taken in 1925, when Joseph Rock visited Choni monastery in Gansu province, where he based himself for two years while undertaking his unsuccessful attempt to reach the mountains of Amnyi Machen. During that time he witnessed the “devil dancers” of Choni.
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