For more than 30 years, He Yanguang, a senior news photographer for the China Youth Daily, has shot countless pictures, documenting a series of flickering moments swirling through time as China continues to experience rapid economic development and social changes.
His photographic career began at the tail end of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and reached a pinnacle in 2005 when he captured the exact moment as the country's top leader Hu Jintao and former Kuomingtang Chairman Lien Chan both stepped forward, reaching their hands simultaneously toward each other in Beijing. That summit broke the ice between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Kuomintang that first formed during the War of Liberation (1945-1949).
Instead of taking close-up hand holding shots, He chose to emphasize the steps both parties had taken that led up to this historic meeting. "It was a difficult yet courageous move for both parties. Although this meeting won’t solve all the problems overnight, it should be regarded as a good beginning," Mr. He wrote in an article for people.com.cn in 2006.
Growing up in the period before the country's opening-up and reform, Mr. He was sent to outlying farmland in Heilongjiang Province with several of his peers at the end of the 1960s. At that time, he used his father's classical 120 Camera to take photos for fun. But the amateur became a serious photographer as time passed and special historic events taught him the importance of recording genuine reality, he told the Xinmin Weekly.
In 1979, he was amazed at the prosperity in both urban and rural areas of Japan when he went abroad for the first time. In 1981, his photo "A Vendor on the Street", representing the nascent stage of China's private economy, won the first award in his career; notably the China Youth Daily had hired him that very year. Over the next two decades, He shot innumerable pictures recording memorable events.
In 1998, He captured a small metal boat with three slim figures sitting on it, floating in a flooded village. In 2002, his photo depicted heartfelt smiles from rural kids living in the middle part of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region during harvest season as they stood against a backdrop piled up watermelons. In 2003, he zoomed into the isolation ward of Beijing Ditan Hospital and captured a doctor standing in front of a patient who had died of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
"I benefited immensely as my duties changed while I working for the China Youth Daily during the last two decades," He said. "I changed from a propaganda recorder into an independent reporter. Reporters can hardly understand reality if they lose the ability to construe their own thoughts, let alone catch and send them along to others."
(China.org.cn by Wu Jin, November 6, 2008)