Photography in China began very quickly after the invention of photography in 1838 with the arrival of European photographers in Macao. In the 1850s, western photographers set up studios in the coastal port cities, but soon their Chinese assistants and local competition spread to all regions. By the end of the nineteenth century, all major cities had photographic studios where middle class Chinese could have portraits taken for family occasions; western and Chinese photographers documented ordinary street life, major wars, and prominent figures; and affluent Chinese adopted photography as a hobby. Even the Empress Dowager Cixi had her portrait taken repeatedly. In the twentieth century, photography in China, as in other countries around the world, was used for recreation, record keeping, newspaper and magazine journalism, political propaganda, and fine art photography.[1]
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In the second half of 19th century, some Chinese photo studios were establied, such as Kung Tai (公泰照相楼, [2]) and Sze Yuen Ming (上洋耀華照相) in Shanghai, and Pun Lun (繽綸) and Afong (A Fong, Ah Fong, Lai Afong, 黎華芳, 1837/1841-1890, [3]) in Hong Kong.
For this period, we can find plates of the following two Chinese photographers in A World History of Photography by Naomi Rosenblum.
Photography in China was seen as a Socialist Realist propagandist tool, and thus a form of fictionalised 'truth telling'.
The aftermath of the Cultural Revolution led to a documentary photography movement that rapidly grew in strength. Many photojournalists worked for the state, and therefore they do not own their copyright in their work.
The establishment in 1993 of the East Village area of the capital Beijing, established an artistic coterie that used photography as an adjunct to experimental performance art and conceptual art. In 1994, Rong Rong co-founded the first Chinese conceptual art photography magazine, New Photo.
Many artist-photographers have had success, especially in the west. Although their work has not been as explicitly political as that by very similar conceptual artists in the west, it has used the same repertoire of 'shock'; nakedness, swear words, dead babies and elephant dung, among other items that have now become tired clichés. Some photographers also work in 'Chinese kitsch' - sometimes called "Mao goes Pop" — a collage style very similar to western pop art of the 1960s. Presently, we are reminded of the discursive autonomy contemporary Chinese art is increasingly afforded, seen in works by artists such as Xu Zhen, Xing Danwen, and Zhang Yue - artists who can not be easily summarized under the umbrella of a single artistic praxis such as "kitsch" or "pop" or "shock."
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