THREE YEARS AGO, some 100 Chinese and foreign photographers gathered in Shanxi province for what was then a no-name photography exhibit in a backwater town called Pingyao that wanted to put itself on the map. The 2001 exhibit, run on a shoestring budget, captured the imagination of two big French companies who stepped in as sponsors. The next year, the Pingyao International Photography Festival made a mark as the premier showcase for Chinese photographers.
This month, Pingyao has gone to Paris, or at least the works of the 13 artists who won the Best Chinese Contemporary Photographer Award (sponsored by beauty care products company L'Oreal) and the Photography Book Award (sponsored by telecommunications giant Alcatel).
Both French companies have extensive mainland operations. Only last month L'Oreal bought out Chinese cosmetic giant Yue-Sai. Partly because of the companies' influence, the 'Pingyao a Paris' exhibit is a big deal. It opened on Friday at a ceremony in Paris attended by French foreign minister Dominique de Villepin and China's ambassador to France Zhao Jinjun.
Curator Alain Jullien launched the Pingyao festival, after having taught English at a military academy in Luoyang, Henan from 1999 to 2000, with Su Sushi, editor-in-chief of People's Photography, the mainland's premier publication for Chinese photographers.
The ancient city of Pingyao, a World Heritage site, welcomed the idea of a festival to try to bring tourism and investment to the town of 60,000, which Jullien describes as 'walking into the 19th century'.
Although the exhibition in Paris represents only a fraction of the artists whose works are displayed in Pingyao, it shows a spectrum of images that run from the humorous to the nightmarish.