LIFE Photos from China Now Online

Our corporate overlords have just announced a deal with Google to make more than 10 million images from the LIFE Photo Archive available via Google's image search. For those of you interested in Chinese history this is worth checking out. The vast majority of the images have never been published. It will be a few months before they are all online, but already you can find fascinating photos. Some, like Richard Nixon toasting Zhou Enlai, you probably know. But most, such as Jack Birns' photo of a tiny refugee clad in a fur coat, appear to be previously unreleased. In fact, the collection is worth examining just to see Birns' vivid work from the era.

Nixon and Zhou Enlai toasting with maotai (John Dominis, Feb. 1972)

Tiny, fur-coated refugee awaiting transportation in Peiping (Jack Birns: Oct. 1948)

A British policeman and a PLA irregular stand along Hong Kong's border (Jack Birns: Oct. 1949)