China through the lens (3)

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Some of Liu's most famous photographs reveal details of Chinese people's daily lives — how they live, leisure and love. (Photo by Liu Heung Shing)

One of his most famous works showed workers taking Chairman Mao's portrait off the facade of the National Museum of Chinese History on the east side of Tian'anmen Square, illustrating the end of an era.

He went on to photograph people trying on sunglasses at a commodities fair, aspiring artists presenting their creations along a public wall, and young lovers managing to have a moment of intimacy without the luxury of privacy.

"I keep my eyes and ears open,"the photographer told the media at the opening of China Dream, Thirty Years in Shanghai.

"I hope I can feel China's pulse in every period and show its highest height and lowest low with my pictures when words fail to do so.”

In recent years Liu has devoted lots of time and effort to compiling photo documentaries about China. His book, China, Portrait of a Country, has been translated into six languages since 2008 and sold more than 250,000 copies all over the world.

In 2010, Liu worked with Briton Karen Smith, a critic and curator of contemporary art, to publish Shanghai: A History in Photographs 1842-Today.

Smith is also curator of Liu's exhibition at China Art Museum in Shanghai.

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