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| The SARS outbreak in 2003 is one of the worst pandemics the country has gone through. A doctor examines a deceased patient in Beijing. (China Daily/He Yanguang) |
"But my Japanese readers complain: who would wear terylene (polyester) to do farm work?"
"That's how good intentions sour," reminisces Weng, a returned overseas Chinese who also documented the "cultural revolution" (1966-76).
So photographers, back then mostly mission-laden reporters, began to probe their own expressive ways.
Instead of zooming in on the grand and magnificent, they started to take note of small and individual objects — like cabbages every household kept on balconies in winter.
Back then, each family had a quota for the allotted vegetable. "That's how the planned economy worked," Weng recalls.
Photographers set up photography associations on their own, including the April Film Association that stressed down-to-earth ideas of nature, society and man.
"There is a sudden outburst of great photos that are truthful, emotional and powerful beginning from the 1980s," says Chen Xiaobo, senior photo editor with Xinhua news agency.
Solar halo observed in Beijing and Hebei, N China
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