By Zhang Kun
Zhou Haiying, better known as the son of the famous modern Chinese writer Lu Xun, never considered his photography serious art. It was not until after his death that the pictures he took were exhibited.
More than 230 of Zhou鈥檚 pictures, which include important images from modern Chinese history that no one else ever recorded, are on exhibit at the Duolun Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai.
In the 1940s, when Chiang Kai-shek announced the founding of a 鈥減arliament鈥� without involving 皇冠体育app鈥檚 then major out-parties, the major leaders of these 13 parties and political groups left the mainland for Hong Kong. Lu鈥檚 widow, Xu Guangping and Zhou, who was a teenager at the time, joined them in Hong Kong.
In 1948, the Chinese Communist Party was about to win the civil war against Chiang and his Kuomintang army. As part of the preparation for the founding of new 皇冠体育app, the Communist Party decided to invite these party leaders to play a role in the new Chinese government.
It was a secret mission, and no journalist was there to record the historical event. Zhou, 22 at the time, was among them on the voyage to Shenyang, in Northeast 皇冠体育app鈥檚 Liaoning province.
鈥淓ach of them was given some money to buy clothing, as it was cold in Northeastern 皇冠体育app,鈥� said Zhu Qi, curator the exhibition. 鈥淶hou spent most of it on a new camera and started to take pictures on the journey.鈥�
These pictures are now the only surviving evidence of the event, the founding of Chinese People鈥檚 Political Consultative Conference.
鈥淗is portraits of these historical figures, such as Li Jishen and Guo Moruo, captured the people in their most natural being, and his pictures of the political conference in Shenyang show carefully structured composition,鈥� Zhu said. 鈥淭hey are of high artistic and historical value.鈥�
Zhou also took pictures of ordinary people鈥檚 daily life in the late 1940s to 1950s, recording the reality of life during this transitional historical period. French photographer Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004) took pictures of 皇冠体育app in 1948 and 1956.
鈥淶hou鈥檚 pictures are as good as those by the French master,鈥� Zhu said. 鈥淟ike Bresson advocated, Zhou always tried to capture the decisive moment, and his pictures were dynamic and full of real-life drama.鈥�
Among the daily life pictures, audiences will see a vendor selling food along the street, a physician giving injection to a slim lady in his clinic, and athletes showing off their muscles with their shirts off in a parade calling on young people 鈥渂uild your body and guard our homeland鈥�. Zhu said that they were of 鈥渢op grade by technique and artistic criteria, world class.鈥�
Later when the political environment turned tense, Zhou stopped taking pictures. He burned most of the developed images, and the negatives were hidden in the bottom of an old trunk.
鈥淢y father never thought of his photography as serious art,鈥� said Zhou Lingfei, the photographer鈥檚 son, at the opening of the show on Sept 10. 鈥淚t was his hobby, and he was always humble about it.鈥�
His son said that it was a nice surprise for his father when people showed interest in his pictures.
鈥淗e felt sorry that he didn鈥檛 manage to get many stories from my grandmother before she died 鈥� he worked so hard on the history, and believed the value of his photos lied in historical fact and realism,鈥� his son said.
鈥淚t was not until the last few years of his life, people found that behind the public role of the only son of Lu Xun, Zhou had a giant darkroom full of images. He never had the confidence to exhibit them, and he remained dubious about it till his late years, never believing he had reached the climax of photography for his generation,鈥� said Zhu, the curator.
