In post-Mao China, late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping urged his one billion countrymen to "seek truth from facts." Taking its cue from Deng's overture, China today is the leading economic story of the 21st century. The process by which China navigated the path from periphery to a central position in world affairs dominates the debate about Asia and China's relationship to the western world. Pulitzer-winning photojournalist Liu Heung Shing charts the visual history of sixty years of the People's Republic from 1949 through to the Beijing Olympics torch relay and the Earthquake that shook Sichuan in May 2008, making this the most recent book on contemporary Chinese visual history.
Via work by 88 Chinese photographers, this collection of images shows how the Chinese people have blossomed in spite of enduring previous decades of extraordinary hardship. When China opens the curtain at the summer Olympics in 2008 and the world’s focus falls upon Beijing, these photographs will serve to map out the remarkable road the Chinese have travelled to rejoin the rest of the world. To help place the images in context, also included are a map of China, drafted and prepared by China National Institute of Geography, and a chronology listing all the major political events in China since 1949.
About the editor:
Liu Heung Shing’s journalistic involvement with China runs parallel with the development of the People’s Republic. Following the 1979 China-U.S. diplomatic normalization, Liu was Time Magazine’s first photojournalist based in Beijing. His first story was on the death of Mao Zedong. He has worked as a foreign correspondent for the The Associated Press in Beijing (1979-1983), Los Angeles (1983-85), New Delhi (19851-89), Seoul (1989-1990) and Moscow (1990-1993). Liu is the author of China After Mao (Penguin 1982), and USSR: Collapse of an Empire (Associated Press 1992). In 1992 he shared the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography on the coverage of the Soviet Union, and in 2005 French Photo magazine named Liu Heung Shing one of the 100 most influential figures in contemporary photography.
The photographers:
Cai Shangxiong, Chen Changfen, Chen Ling, Ricky Chung, Cui Xinhua, Du Xiuxian, Feng Jianguo, Ge Xin , Gu Shoukang, Guo Gai, Guo Tieliu, Han Lei, He Yanguang, Hong Ke, Hou Bo, Hu Yang, Huang Yimin, Ji Lianbo, Jiang Jian, Jiang Shaowu, Jin Cheng, Kou Shanqin, Jason Lee, Lei Yu, Li Lang, Li Nan, Li Zhensheng, Liu Heung Shing, Liu Zheng, Lu Beifeng, Lu Guang, Lü Nan, Lü Xiangyou, Luo Xiaoyun, Meng Zhaorui, Peng Xiangjie, Qin Wen, Qiu Haiying, Qiu Yan, Ren Wen, Rong Rong & inri, Ru Suichu, Shi Xunfeng, Tang Desheng, Wang Fuchun, Wang Jie, Wang Jinsong, Wang Shilong, Wang Wenlan, Wang Jing, Wei Dezhong, Wei Ruoxun, Wen Jianping, Weng Naiqiang, Wu Jialin, Xiao Quan, Xiao Ye, Xiao Zhuang, Xie Guanghui, Xie Hailong, Xing Danwen, Xu Haifeng, Xu Xiaobing, Yang Shaoming, Yang Shizhong, Yang Yankang, Ying Fukan, Yong He, Yu Deshui, Yu Haibo, Yuan Kezhong, Zeng Nian, Zhang Dali, Zhang Peng, Zhang Xinmin, Zhang Yaxin, Zhao Qunying, Zheng Pingping, Zhou Cao, Zhou Chao, Zhou Yue, Zhu Yan, Zuo Jiazhong.
