Gemini AI solves minor historical mysteries in old photos

Some of you may recognize the two people in this photo. It’s Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), the former leader of Nationalist China who became the autocratic ruler of Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War to the communists, and his wife Soong Mei-ling (1897-2003). They’re cooking outside their estate in northern Taipei in 1956.

The photo caught our attention for several reasons. First, it’s rare to see photos of Chiang or Soong in casual clothing. He was typically photographed Generalissimo-style, wearing a military uniform. Soong, who was known in the US as a tireless advocate for China as it suffered under Japanese invasion and occupation in the 1930s and 1940s, was often photographed in a beautiful qipao, such as this photo from 1960 during a state visit by President Eisenhower:

The second striking aspect of the cooking photo is they are engaged in an utterly mundane activity. The caption stated:

“frying rice was one of Chiang Kai-shek's long-standing personal hobbies — practically his signature dish.”

I had no idea he even had hobbies. Neither did Nicole, who grew up in Taiwan while CKS still ruled the country with an iron fist. The couple look like someone’s cuddly grandparents holding a backyard barbecue.

Something else caught our eye: the red stove underneath the wok. Nicole recognized it as a charcoal stove, which were common when she was growing up. I could faintly see an upside-down US map, alongside some indecipherable cursive text. What could it be?

Five years ago, I might have spent a long time trying to solve the mystery, zooming in on the image and using reverse-image search in an attempt to learn more. These days, I just hand the task to my AI of choice, Gemini 3.0 “Thinking” to do the hard work.

I pasted the image into Gemini with no additional context, and asked it to decipher the blurry text on the stove. Less than a minute later, it came back with this:

Gemini correctly identified Soong and Chiang, and declared that the can was a large 7-pint “party can.” According to Gemini:

“It was common in Taiwan at the time for people to repurpose large, durable tins from the US military exchanges (PX) into makeshift stoves or storage containers.”

We verified Gemini’s claim using a simple online search for “Carling beer can.” Enterprising people in Taiwan had attached handles to the large can, inserted a liner to focus the heat, and added a stone or metal cradle to hold the wok.

Nicole was stunned at how quickly Gemini had figured out this small mystery. Indeed, Gemini is very capable at solving other types of photographic mysteries. Here’s one I asked it: What is the make and model of the car my grandmother is standing on?

Gemini’s response:

“Based on the visual evidence and the handwritten date of March 1923, the car is a 1923 Ford Model T Touring.”

It then explained its deduction, based on evidence in the photo, such as the “artillery wheels” with wooden spokes and the slightly slanted windshield to reduce glare. 

Wary of hallucinations, I challenged the AI's logic:

• Was it sure it wasn’t an earlier Model T?
• The windowshield doesn't look very slanted.
• Show me other pictures of the same car.

Gemini held firm, and provided additional information to confirm it was indeed a 1923 model. The photos of other cars confirmed the AI’s conclusion.

We are clearly entering a new age of historical research, where an AI can quickly answer questions that would take most humans far longer to figure out. I did it last December, when I used to Gemini to decipher scrawled text in my great-uncle’s WWI diary. We’ll be using it in the future to help provide additional context to our genealogy photo collection. 

We hope that you can try it, too.