Helen Deng

    FEW places in the world have seen such big changes as the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in the past four decades. From an impoverished region to a manufacturing powerhouse and one of the richest areas in China, the changes were captured by Zhu Xianmin, a photographer famous for his photos of common people.

    “Change,” an exhibition of Zhu’s works, is being held at Guan Shanyue Art Museum. It shows 80 photos of common people taken by Zhu. The oldest, taken in 1973, shows families that live on boats in Zhongshan City. The latest, taken in 2012, shows two smartly dressed mothers with babies in strollers at Dongmen Old Street.

    Forty were taken in Shenzhen. They include trendy youngsters in Dongmen Old Street in the 1980s, a crowded dormitory of migrant girls, vendors in wholesale markets, reminiscent of Shenzhen in the old days and representing ordinary Shenzheners in their most unguarded moments.

    “Visitors can see how the PRD has developed over the past 40 years through these photos,” Zhu said at the opening ceremony of the exhibition April 10. Wang Chen, executive chairman of Shenzhen Entrepreneurs Photography Association and curator of the exhibition, said: “Every Shenzhener can see himself or herself in the photos.”

    Zhu is the vice chairman of China Photographers Association. He began to focus on photos of common people in the 1970s, one of the few Chinese photographers to have done so. In the past four decades, he came to the Pearl River Delta at least twice a year and took numerous photos. He loves to wander along small lanes and chat with strangers. His photos show real life with great vividness.

    Chen Xiangbo, curator of Guan Shanyue Art Museum, said: “Zhu’s persistence in recording common people’s life is rare for a Chinese photographer.”

    Zhu believes that a photographer should care about social changes, and record them truthfully. “Social changes are in fact, changes of people. So I try to record the lives of 85 percent of the population with lenses,” he said.

    “I’m often touched by people in my photos. Time passes so quickly, what changes can four decades bring to people? The people, the scenes, the objects and the emotion at a certain moment cannot reduplicate, but the moment is fixed in a photo. When I look at the photos, my understanding of life and photography get deeper,” he said.

    For Zhu, the most important indicator of a good photo is emotion. He does not like artistic treatment for photography. “If the photographer overemphasizes structure and light, he could miss the most important factor — truthfulness,” he said.