A History of Chinese Images

Editor: Han Congyao
Publisher: China Photographic Publishing House

 

The origin of images is rooted in the generations of civilization, while in turn, people can track the continuity and inheritance of cultural development via images. The tradition of Chinese historians has long been to view history through both images and documents. Western historians also have adopted the approach of using images to verify history.
 

The 10-volume A History of Chinese Images is the result of five years of work by more than 20 scholars. Han Congyao, editor-in-chief of the book and a professor from the School of Journalism and Communication at Nanjing University, said that image culture is an important part of traditional Chinese culture because it bears witness to China’s development.
 

“This book not only studies the content of images but also puts images in a historical context to analyze and sort out the three forms of images, namely technical form, composition, and social aspects as well as the significance of three fields—production, image and communication,” Han said.

The book thoroughly and systematically examines Chinese history, covering almost all the major historical events in the modern history of China as well as many other aspects, such as economic life, culture, education, customs and religion, to reconstruct the vivid tapestry of Chinese history.
 

The first eight volumes of A History of Chinese Images is written in chronological order, displaying the development of images at different stages, while the ninth and 10th volumes chronicle the major events, authors, films and publishers in China in the periods from 1839-1911 and 1912-1949.
 

A History of Chinese Images spans from 400 BC to contemporary times, so for the sake of unified style, each volume adopts the same or similar structure and order to write about sociocultural background at different stages of history, the panorama of image culture, technical features, constitutive features, communication field and authors.
 

It also includes the overview of the development of the motion picture industry in the same period, restoring the history of Chinese images in different times.

 

Wu Nan is a reporter from Chinese Social Sciences Today.