by
Silvia Messeri
From the Last Emperor to the massacre in the Square
of Tienanmen
The history of 20th century China in photographs
At the beginning of the 20th century China was still like it was as it is
described in documents of the 3rd century B.C. With a territory that was
almost as large as the United States, it not only had extensive deserts
but also tropical areas as well as more temperate zones. Its inhabitants
were mostly farmers, their lives were ordered according to the seasons and
small villages grew up near the great markets of the cities. People were
only able to speak the dialect of their own particular province, unintelligible
to others, and nobody would have even imagined that great political, social
and economic changes were soon to come about in the country. The exhibition
on "The Chinese Century", which opened in Europe for the first time at the
Fratelli Alinari History of Photography Museum, describes the events that
have taken place during the 20th century, completely changing the face of
this huge nation which, in many ways, is still unknown to us. Over 130 black
and white photos are arranged in twelve sections to follow a chronological
tour that lasts from 1894 and to 1996 and describes, almost crudely at times,
some of the most important moments in Chinese history from the end of the
Empire to the period after Mao.
One of the photos in the exhibition:
march of smiling
girl students holding wooden rifles.
(Endevour Group UK) |
The photos, taken by both professional and amateur photographers,
come for the most part from Chinese archives but also from private collections
in America and Europe; this is the first time that they have been grouped
together for an exhibition and in the book by Jonathan D. Spence and Annping
Chin that Alinari has published for the occasion. History wends its way
past the photos of the Empress Widow Cixi surrounded by her eunuchs; the
decapitated heads of the Boxers after their attempted uprising; the sad
expression of Puyi, the last emperor; Chu Enlai, Mao and Bo Gu at Yenan
after the "long march". Day to day life was instead captured by the lenses
of the Protestant and Catholic missionaries who lived in China at the
beginning of the century. One of these, the Italian Leone Nani, took the
photos of the deformed feet of Chinese women. At the age of three or four,
the feet of little girls were tightly bound, with all the toes, except
for the big toe, bent back under the sole of the foot. The foot thus became
very small, acquiring a pointed and slender shape which, combined with
a swaying walk, was an indispensible requirement for all marriagable women.
This was why the physical suffering that accompanied this tradition was
accepted almost willingly, though when we see some of the photos of young
women with bound feet that have been placed beside one youngsters running
freely and happily in the garden of the mission we realise what a high
price they paid. The exhibition ends with the few shots of the Square
of Tienanmen; in particular, a photo of some students reading under the
light of the street lamps in this peaceful, illuminated square that reminds
us of the terrible violence that was shortly to break out there. "The
Chinese century". The history of 20th century China in photographs - Florence,
until June 22nd - Fratelli Alinari History of Photography Museum.
Hours: daily, including holidays, from 10am to 7.30pm. Fridays ad Saturdays
open until 11.30pm. Entrance L. 10.000. Reduced tickets L. 7.000 Price
of catalogue L. 120.000
FAN-Florence ART News Email: csplanet@comune.firenze.it
|
