This articles examines the position of Chinese photographers in the visual colonial landscapes. The Chinese toekang potret were involed in both commissioned photographs and the production of commercial imgaes, but the latter was lesswidespread. Contratry to the image that Chinese photographers client wew from the lower strata of society, this article shosw the they were commissioned by the European, Chinese and Javanese elite. The image materiality of the portrats reveals the visual traces of circulation and exchange. Hence, the Chinese photographers were indirectly involved in these elite networks as well.