02. People studying hard before the college enrollment exam at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1981.

Photo Shanghai, an international art fair organized by the World Photography Organization, is one such event that has greatly benefitted from the photography craze. The fair, which ran from Sept 11 to 13 at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, attracted 26,000 visitors.

Fair director Alexander Montague-Sparey said the crowd numbers is indicative of the considerable increase in awareness and passion for photography in China, which has subsequently translated into strong sales of iconic vintage and contemporary masterpieces.

Liu, an American Chinese photographer who has lived and worked in China for several decades, is widely recognized for his insightful portrayals of the everyday lives of ordinary Chinese people over the past 30 years. While there are often debates about the merits of different genres of photography, Liu believes that this is a wrong approach to understanding the craft. He suggested that there is a universal standard to good photography, saying that a good image transcends categorization, style and method.

“Often when breaking news takes place, you will find that newspapers all over the world use very similar front page pictures,” he said, before adding that despite the numerous number of photographers at the scene, only a select few get their works published by agencies around the world.

Born in 1951, Liu spent most of his childhood in Fujian province before moving to Hong Kong. He studied at the City University of New York where he read extensively about China. In 1978, he started to work as the founder and reporter for Time magazine’s Beijing office. He was particularly intrigued with the prevalence of political intervention in everyday life and decided to document it. For example, in his photos of a peasant in the Emei Mountains of Sichuan province, one can find political slogans printed on the wall, and the large portrait of Chairman Mao hanging in the center of the house.