The history of photography in China dates back to the nineteenth century in early times. European photographers had arrived in China at this time and were at a place called Macao. These Western photographers decided to set up studios in the coastal cities of China, and this was during the 1850’s. The western photographers were later exposed to competition and their Chinese assistants associated with the local competitors and spread to all regions of China. It is by the end of the nineteenth century that all the major cities had photographic studios with the spread of photography (Hammond et al. 65). The Chinese in the middle class were at a position then to have their portraits taken during family occasions; both the western and Chinese photographers had a chance to document prominent figures, major wars and the ordinary street lives. The affluent Chinese later adopted photography as a hobby. Unlike the nineteenth century, the twentieth century had photography in China used for recreational purposes. Just as other countries in the world, the Chinese photography in the twentieth century also had the photography used for record keeping, journalism, fine art and political propaganda. This essay aims at writing about the history of photography in timeline forms and will mostly involve exploration.
A colonial police force was established in the 1940’s to handle the high crime rate. The China standards of punishment were considered as laughably lenient and loose. Many scholars give information that the photographic activities were so much entertaining and thus made even the authorities to be entertaining to the photographers. Prostitution was the most identified activity and most hurting in China that came up in the photographic studios. The lack of intimidation could have been the leading cause of crime development and continuity. In this period, Po Leung Kuk emerged as one of the first organizations to assist in dealing with women abduction and the crisis of prostitution. The growth of China in this period was seen to be with domestic transport of citizens and cargo. People who went for photographic activities and the products of photography majored in the transport system since so much movement was involved. The establishment of Star ferry and Yuamati ferry was a great resource in establishing photography. Resources for photography would be and transporting the resources was made efficient thus improving the development of photography. In 1843, the Chinese colony had its first ship at a private shipyard and all development urge for transportation was because of photography. It is funny to mention that the transport machines would be for photographic issues, and several people would get to the transporting ships, vehicles and ferries to take photographs.
Fictionalized truth-telling was seen in the retrieved photos, and the photos were used for reference with regards to the happenings that had taken place in China. Photos of Sir Robert Hart who was the inspector general of the imperial customs were retrieved during this period. Diaries of his activities in forms of photographs had been used to give more information regarding his activities in Beijing that ere dated from1863 to 1908. The period of 1966 to 1976 being the year of retrieval, more than six thousand photographs that were taken in Tibet between 1920 and 1950 were retrieved. The Chinese photographers became so keen in their undertakings and photography could be used for proving happenings of the past and give more information about the past. The photographers who were involved in the Tibet album retrieval were Arthur Hopkinson, Hugh Richardson, Charles Bell, Evan Nepean, Fredrick Spencer Chapman and Rabden Lepcha. An interactive resource was later established in 1974 that visualized China as per the years of 1850 to 1950. The resource explored historical photographs of China including political wars, legal partaking and development of the China’s photography. The Cultural Revolution that took place in this period brought silence to the end, and the photographic personnel used their knowledge to get information. The bad things that had been happening to the people of China were known and getting them to a stop was possible with all thanks to photography and its individuals.
There had been a proliferation of the publications in China and its photography especially the series format. The socialist ideology came up with a reality of the market economy in which China faced reformation to be a global market. After the establishment of photography by the western photographers, there emerged some war in 1937-1945. This war was named Sino-Japanese war, and another China civil war occurred in 1945-1949. It was at this time that both the Japanese and colonial governments censured photography. After the war that ended in 1949, the communist party of China used photography to produce political propaganda that would motivate the masses to participate in the creation of a new socialist culture.
The period of 1976 to 1993 is always referred to as the aftermath period in the line of photography. The aftermath of Cultural Revolution made a lead to the documentary photography movement. This movement grew rapidly in strength and many photojournalists worked for the state of China. The photojournalists who worked for the state could not have their copyright in the work they did (Bowden et al. 91). During this period, China was already developing, and several buildings existed and most photography could thus cover the buildings. Ungoverned by health and safety regulations, photographers who either worked for the state or themselves dripped through the dark corridors and in the runways ready to perform their duties. Photography had become an important task, and several media houses were rising that would require the skills in photography. Photography did become not only a financial activity but also a basic factor in life. Journalists spent several years in photographing the walled cities, the residents and how the city was organized. During this period, photography served as a dynasty song for capturing all that was going on in China. It is photography that served as a watch post for the military in defending China against pirates and managed the salt production just before getting under the British rule. By early 1980’s, China became the focus of a diplomatic crisis because no one would take responsibility. Both China and Britain could not take responsibility of what was going on in the country thus photography offered to record all that was happening. China became notorious for brothels, casinos, cocaine parlors, and opium dens. Famous food courts served dog meat, and unscrupulous dentists escaped prosecution when anything could happen to their patients.
Photography played a critical role in shaping China in relation to the problems that were taking place during this period. It was the photographers who recorded every action until the country was back in order. The recordings were later used for solving the problems that existed and instead of either China or Britain taking charge, the individuals who involved in unscrupulous activities took charge of what they did. Further photography was used to give more information about the situation the Chinese cities were in. Photographic reports proved that the quality of life in China was by then poor with poorest sanitary conditions. Plans were made to demolish the buildings, and photography monitored the construction of new buildings. The photography that involved state employees was very strict, and accuracy in the information provided was looked into. Photographic records were prepared and were very much incredible. Stories about issues of race were prepared in relation to the immigration that had occurred during this period. Endurance events that were experienced in China were recorded and to date the photos are recommended for viewing. It is during this period that Wang Xuan invented the photocomposition system. This system was for Chinese character typesetting and famed the expertise in research and computer science. The developed system specialized in the development graphics and images in the photography sector. The achievement of expertise in the photography sector laid foundations for reforms and development in technology. Technology later transformed China’s traditional letterpress printing technique into a better photo composition. From 1987 to 1993 China’s printing press of photography underwent a technical reform that can be considered great in simple words. This period being recognized as having made significant contributions in the history of photography, China’s printing press was modernized. The modernization of China’s press and printing industry has been hailed as the “Bi Sheng of the Modern Times.” Another significant name known to this period is “Father of the Chinese character laser-photo-typesetting system.”
The period of 1993 to date marked several establishments in the Chinese photography. The establishment of the East Village in 1993 established an artistic coterie. This establishment happened in the capital of Beijing. Artistic coterie used photography as an adjunct to the performance of experimental art and conceptual art. 1994 marked the co-founding of the first Chinese conceptual art photography magazine. Rong was the co-founder of the conceptual art photography magazine with several photos established. Many artist photographers were successful during this period and especially in the western part of China. The artists’ work was never political and has used the same repertoire of shock. In the photos, the artists used nakedness, swear swords, elephant dung’ and dead babies just to mention as items that have presently become tired clichés. A photographer worked in the Chinese kitsch that sometimes was called Mao goes pop (Cody et al. 89). The discursive autonomy that contemporary Chinese art is affording today what the period in nineties had experienced. Works of the autonomy were done by artists such as Xu Zhen, Xing Danwen, and Zang Yue. These artists could not be in an umbrella of single artistic praxis such as “kitsch,” pop or shock but were seen as universal and special artists.
According to Gies and Gies, paper is one of the Chinese technologies that can be traced to photography. In 1994, actual paper products underwent two stages with actual products in the first stage and paper manufacturing in the second stage. The initial countries that acquired paper printing in photography were Japan, India and Korea and this only happened after they began trading with China. The earliest printed book with photos had its way in AD 868 but was released in China in the year 1997. The photos had been printed with knowledge of China’s photographic ideas. Photos of T’ang culture came to exist with the Buddhist influence in art. Sculptures became strong in the T’ang period, and fine images and sculptures were preserved in rocks of the temples. Such sculptures can be in photos of China, but those who want them physically can visit Yongang and Longmen in the China’s northwest. It was in 1998 that photography required some applications to view the images available. With good knowledge in photography, China was able to develop and release an adobe Photoshop. The application was for manipulating programs and was released for apple Macintosh computers.
In 2000, Kodak in China introduced its digital Nikon F3 for better photographs and the software and protocol for World Wide Web (www) helped in better viewing of pictures. Block printing was later established and was used for printing patterns, texts, and images. Rather than the application of block printing in China, the entire East Asia was able to use block printing. This type of printing images was used in China on textiles but later with the influence of Buddhism it became common to use on paper. With the development of photography in China, fragments could be printed, and these fragments survived. The fragments were made of silk printed flowers with three colors that attracted more people to photography. The technology that was used in printing expanded from clothes to paper and presently is practiced even on buildings. With the help of Buddhism in the spread of technology in photography, printing was circulated under specific standards. Translation wasdone over a wide area and production of multiple copies of key texts in religious sessions and more photos that were printed reached more people including in India and Europe.
The Cambodian photographers came up in the late 1990’s, and this happened after military withdrawal of the Vietnamese. People like Heng Sinith and Mark Remissa are known to stumble in the press photography as a means of earning basic lifestyle like bringing food on the table. These two photographers later served the demands of western media that wanted cheaper local photographs. Photography gained more fame with many people opting to have it as a subject even up to higher levels in learning. Yi GU can be as an assistant professor of the art history at the University of Toronto. Researches that Yi Gu conduct are on the twentieth-century Chinese art, photography history. Other researchers also touch on politics of cultural translation and her works have had great fame. Such mentioned works have appeared on journals including “The Art Bulleting and Ars Orientals”. GU Zheng is a photography critic and curator based in Shanghai, where he is Professor in the School of Journalism and Vice-director of the Research Center for Visual Culture at Fudan University. He has published many books in Chinese on contemporary photography and photographic history and has curette numerous exhibitions of Chinese photography in China and abroad. Yoshiaki Kai is also mentioned to have earned a Ph.D. in art history from New York’s City University and works as an associate professor at the humanities' faculty in Japan’s Niigata University. Other several scholars and professors also exist in China, who majors their lives in photography like Kaneko Ryuichi, Mika Kobayashi, and Jean Loh.
In concluding, the history of photography in China is chronological or rather sequential. The research identified different changes at different times. The changes were not depreciating but always appreciated, and photography improved. From a strange activity that was introduced by western people, photography in China can today be seen to be a serious thing that employs many and gives many knowledge and honors. The development of photography has also marked very special activities that recorded what was going on in China from time to time. Photography can thus be as one of the developers of China.
Works Cited
Bowden, Mark. Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. , 2010. Internet resource.
Campany, David. Photography and Cinema. London: Reaktion Books, 2008. Print.
Cody, Jeffrey W, and Frances Terpak. Brush & Shutter: Early Photography in China. Los Angeles, Calif: Getty Research Institute, 2011. Print.
Galbraith, Patrick W, and Jason G. Karlin. Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. Print.
Hammond, Kenneth J. The Human Tradition in Modern China. Lanham, Md. [u.a.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. Print.
Henriot, Christian, and Wen-Hsin Yeh. Visualising China, 1845-1965: Moving and Still Images in Historical Narratives. Leiden: Brill, 2013. Print.
