Shi Panqi, born in 1932 in Chang'ge, Henan Province. Shi joined the military and the Chinese Communist Party in 1948. He took up press-photography in 1949, and engaged in some on-the-spot reports, including the Campaign of Crossing Yangtze River, Liberation of Southwest China and Campaign to Suppress Bandits in Sichuan and Shandong Provinces. He was head of a photographic team during the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. He took on new positions as press-photographer and head of the Beijing, Tianjin ,Hebei and Shandong branches of Xinhua News Agency in 1955.