Fossilizing memories and history

A young couple in Shanghai People's Park in 1978 when dating in public was still not widely acceptable in society. [Photo by Liu Heung Shing/China Daily]

Liu, an American Chinese photographer who has lived and worked in China for several decades, is widely recognized for his insightful portrayals of the everyday lives of ordinary Chinese people over the past 30 years. While there are often debates about the merits of different genres of photography, Liu believes that this is a wrong approach to understanding the craft. He suggests that there is a universal standard to good photography, saying that a good image transcends categorization, style and method.

"Often when breaking news takes place, you will find that newspapers all over the world use very similar front page pictures," he says, before adding that despite the numerous number of photographers at the scene, only a select few get their works published by agencies around the world.

Born in 1951, Liu spent most of his childhood in Fujian province before moving to Hong Kong. He studied at the City University of New York where he read extensively about China. In 1978, he started to work as the founder and reporter for Time magazine's Beijing office. He was particularly intrigued with the prevalence of political intervention in everyday life and decided to document it. For example, in his photos of a peasant in the Emei Mountains of Sichuan province, one can find political slogans printed on the wall, and a large portrait of Chairman Mao hanging in the center of the house.

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 Tiananmen Square. That particular photo is now regarded as one of the most important images signifying the end of an era in China.

"At the time when I took that picture, nobody realized what it meant, not even the workers themselves. They thought it was just a routine cleaning process," Liu says.