Photography in China

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.

The aftermath of the Cultural Revolution led to a documentary photography movement that rapidly grew in strength. Many photojournalists worked for the state, and therefore they do not own their copyright in their work.

The establishment in 1993 of the East Village area of the capital Beijing, established an artistic coterie that used photography as an adjunct to experimental performance art and conceptual art. In 1994, Rong Rong co-founded the first Chinese conceptual art photography magazine, New Photo.

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Wikipedia