A photo with legs

Photo provided to China Daily

After a decade of development, people's income increased by a large margin, greatly improving their living standards. They became open-minded and started to wear colorful clothes.

The local newspaper Dalian Evening News recently appealed readers to find the "miniskirt lady".

"After 22 years, there are many uncertainties. We were not sure whether she is still living in Dalian," says Zhao Zhenjiang, chief editor of the newspaper.

When the story was published, a reader called the reporter, saying he was an old neighbor of the miniskirt lady.

Chen was quite surprised to find that her image was regarded as a typical representation of the time.

"I have loved to dress up since I was a little girl. When I started to earn money, I always pursued fashion. It made me get many second glances walking on the street," she recalls. "But I'd never thought that I could become the focus of a photographer."

At that time, Chen was 28 years old and mother to a 4-year-old girl.

An enlargement of the photograph is on the wall of Chen's living room.

"It is the right image of that period. Look at my eyebrow tattoos, how interesting! That was very popular at that time," Chen recalls.

Chen was a cashier at the Wangfangdian branch of Dalian Foreign Trade Company. After work, she often went for a stroll around Tanjin Street, the most prosperous commercial street of the city then.