A richly illustrated history tracing Chinese photography from its nineteenth-century beginnings through war, revolution, reform, and experimentation to the diverse practices of contemporary China today.

Photography was invented in 1839 and introduced to China only a few years later. Since then, Chinese photography has developed through periods of profound political, social, and artistic change. This book traces that history from the Republican era and wartime photography, through the decades following the founding of the People’s Republic of China, to the diversification of photographic practice after 1976 and the rise of contemporary and experimental photography.

From Chinese pictorialism and wartime images to revolutionary photography focused on workers and soldiers, post-1976 experimentation, and the new practices of the 1990s, the works gathered here reveal the range and vitality of Chinese photographic culture. Together, they show changing styles, subjects, and ideas about photography, art, and society.

Essays by leading scholars place these works in historical and cultural context, offering an authoritative introduction to more than a century of photography in China.

Richly illustrated, the volume combines accessible scholarship with a broad selection of photographs.