Liu Heung-shing: a witness to 'the Chinese dream'
Over more than three decades, photographer Liu Heung-shing has documented China's economic boom and its changing aspirations
Before Liu Heung-shing became a photojournalist in China, he encountered many different versions of what kind of country China was.
He had read the autobiographical accounts of Han Suyin, a strong supporter of the Chinese communist revolution, and the favourable portrait of the People's Republic given in the early writings of Ross Terrill.
But none of the portraits fit the memories of the country from his childhood. So when his professor at Hunter College in New York introduced him to an executive at Time Incorporated, Liu jumped at the chance to return China as a photographer and see for himself.
Liu's first assignment for Time magazine was covering Mao Zedong's funeral in 1976. Two years later, he returned as a correspondent for the magazine in Beijing, a job that would give him a front-row seat to one of the most remarkable economic transformations in world history.
This month, the fruits of Liu's labour - more than 100 photographs, spanning three decades - are on display at the China Art Museum in Shanghai, an exhibit entitled "China Dream: Thirty Years".
"In my coverage of China over the years, I saw this transformation of China from a very backward, self-isolated country to the China that we know today," said Liu, 62, at his elegant courtyard house in central Beijing. "The exhibition is a journey of China moving from collectivism to individualism."