Chinese photography

Photography in China dates back to the early 19th century with the arrival of European photographers in Macao. In the 1850s, western photographers set up studios in the coastal port cities, but soon their Chinese assistants and local competition spread to all regions. By the end of the nineteenth century, all major cities had photographic studios where middle class Chinese could have portraits taken for family occasions; western and Chinese photographers documented ordinary street life, major wars, and prominent figures; and affluent Chinese adopted photography as a hobby. Even the Empress Dowager Cixi had her portrait taken repeatedly. In the twentieth century, photography in China, as in other countries around the world, was used for recreation, record keeping, newspaper and magazine journalism, political propaganda, and fine-art photography. According to the scholar Meccarelli,Chinese photography is "the result of combining several different factors:

- the study of optics (invention of camera obscura)

- the development of modern chemistry (photosensitive substances)

- the diffusion and settlement of Western medicine (especially anatomy)

- the presence of Westerners and missionaries (know-how and use of the photographic tool)

Furthermore, we should never forget that, being an art and a science, photography resulted also from the theoretical and technical assumptions of painting and printing traditions."

In the second half of the 19th century, some Chinese photo studios were establied, such as Kung Tai (公泰照相樓) and Sze Yuen Ming (上洋耀華照相) in Shanghai, and Pun Lun (繽綸) and Lai Afong (赖阿芳) in Hong Kong.

Photography in China was seen as a Socialist Realist propagandist tool. Li Zhensheng was one of the few photographers who managed to take pictures in an honest way during the Cultural Revolution. Subjects of his Cultural Revolution photographs included "negative" scenes such public humiliation, street violence, executions, etc., as well as "positive" moments, like people studying Mao's works, singing revolutionary slogans, performing loyalty dance, and participating in farm work, etc. Li's photographs of the Cultural Revolution are published in a book titled "Red-Color News Soldier" by Phaidon.

The April Fifth Movement in 1976 marked the start of a new photographic vision in China. During the movement, ordinary citizens (amateur photographers) picked up the cameras and documented people's public mourning for Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. A couple of years later, some of these photographs were published in a book called "People's Mourning". Many of these amateur photographers became professional ones and joined the official press. They also found an unofficial photo club called "April Photo Society."

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Wikipedia