training photography was to apply the age-old
master-disciple system to young photographers.
Photographic training was intended to achieve
two goals: to educate photographers in using the
medium for the promotion of the significance of
the revolution, and to teach photographers to mas-
ter basic darkroom skills.
It was also during this period that a number of
pictorial newspapers emerged to report the war to
the public. The Communist Party saw these news-
papers as propaganda tools, and in 1942, it estab-
lished its own illustrated newspaper to present
photojournalism that extolled the successes of
the Eighth Route Army. After the establishment
of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, pictor-
ial newspapers and magazines retained their role
in the promotion of the Party and its ideals. Two
important pictorial magazines, China Pictorial
andChina Reconstructs, were published, provid-
ing an outlet for social documentary and report-
age photography.
WU Yinxian (1900–1994) was the most active
and well-known photographer who favorably
addressed Communist concerns. He was popular
for his socialist and realist style in documenting
the history of China’s Communists. He was con-
cerned with the form and technique of lighting to
dramatize his visual motifs. His early works
focused primarily on the miserable lives of mar-
ginal and low-class subjects confronted by the
social and political changes in the 1920s and
1930s. He later developed photographic education
programs for the Red Army. He had joined the
Party in 1938, and in 1939 he published a book
calledThe Knowledge of Photography, a textbook
for Communist photographers. One of his best-
known works,Dr. Bai Qiuen (1939), documents
outdoor surgery on a Communist solider. This
photo expresses the dignity of Dr. Bai who, during
attempts to save the solider, seems not to care at
all about the danger of the ongoing war. Dr. Bai
was a foreigner, but his bravery symbolizes his
strong commitment to the revolution. After the
establishment of People’s Republic of China in
1949, Wu Yinxian focused on developing film
education in China.
XU Xiaobing (1916–) and HOU Bo (1924–) are
a married couple well known for their portraits of
Communist leaders and significant ceremonies in
the history of the Party, from the 1930s to 1950s.
They are especially famous for depicting Chair-
man Mao, Hou Bo having been Mao’s personal
photographer from approximately 1949 to 1961.
Though primarily a filmmaker, one of Xu Xiaob-
ing’s portraits of Mao is a profile view of him
facing an adoring audience. This photo later
became an exemplary work for photographers to
show their leader’s openness toward the public. Xu
studied photography in a film company in Shang-
hai. Later, he joined the Party and served as a
photojournalist, documenting on film the early
history of Party. After 1949, he was active in
documenting important national ceremonies and
events. Hou’s photo of the ceremonial founding
of the PRC in Tiananmen Square records the most
significant single moment of the history of the
PRC, and her studio portraits of Mao became
the basis for the well-known painted, poster, and
banner images of Mao that were ubiquitous dur-
ing this time.
It is not an exaggeration to say there was no ‘‘per-
sonal’’ photography in China at this time. Cameras
were rare commodities and used only for official
purposes:identification,documentationofstatepro-
jectsandleaders,andpropagandaasChinarebuiltits
war-torn nation and emerged into modernity.
It is, however, important to point out the signifi-
cance of SUN Mingjing’s works during this period.
Sun was an amateur photographer, and his photo-
graphy has been lesser known until rather recently.
Sun was significant for the establishment and devel-
opment of film education in China. He had learned
film and photography from American missionaries.
As a scientist and engineer in the service of the Party,
he conducted numerous field trips in China to
research the state of industrial manufacturing. He
took over a thousand photos and shot documentary
films during these trips. Some of those photographs
are important for reporting the social conditions
during the time, and also for preserving historical
moments of this era. Yet some of the photos also
express Sun’s concerns with the symbolism and aes-
theticsofphotographythatweredisavowedbysocial
documentary and reportage photography. One
photograph depicts a scene in which a city is ravaged
by a plague of locusts; Sun uses the locusts to symbo-
lize the invading Japanese army. (The word ‘‘locust’’
in Chinese is euphonically similar to the translation
of ‘‘Japanese army.’’) Another photograph depicts
rows of young nude teachers, silhouetted against the
sunrise performing physical excises. The symbolism
of wartime patriotic struggle is obvious from the fact
that, in Chinese, the translations of the phrases
‘‘against the sunrise’’ and ‘‘against Japan’’ are
exactly the same, as well as the fact that the projected
shadows of these men form a pattern that suggests
Japan’s wartime flag. Sun Mingjing, unique in Chi-
nese social documentary and reportage photogra-
phy, addressed photography with the idea of
transfiguring accepted motifs into symbolic images.CHINA AND TAIWAN, PHOTOGRAPHY IN