12 Nov 2008

Thomas H. Hahn Docu-Images - Images from the Cultural Revolution
Thomas H. Hahn Docu-Images, Ithaca, NY, US
Supplied note:
"For those colleagues with an interest in the campaigns and mechanics of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, I would like to advertise the creation of a new on-line collection of Xinhua News Agency photographs from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s.
Much has been written about this traumatic segment of China's recent past, but - with the exception of the legacies of Li Zhensheng and Weng Naiqiang - the subject (for very complex and difficult reasons) is not well covered visually, at least not in any comprehensive fashion. For example, in 'An Anthology of Chinese Photography 1957-2000' (Beijing 2002), the ten years between 1964 and 1974 are not represented at all, and the years 1974 to 1979 display mostly Mao and Model Operas (yangbanxi).
With the exception of Chang Song's striking images, the galleries offered here reflect parts of my own holdings on the subject. There are at present nine galleries, with the following content: 1. The anti-Kong anti-Lin campaign in Qufu (27 photographs, April 1974) 2. Sports and physical education (15 photographs, November 1971) 3. The nation-wide educational campaign in the mechanical and life sciences (21 photographs, April 1974) 4. China's navy and archaeology on the Xisha (Spratley) Islands (20 photographs, approx. early 1974) 5. China's heavy industry in the early 1970s (18 photographs, no annotations available) 6. Drills and practices of the Peoples Liberation Army PLA in the early 1970s (14 photographs, no annotations available) 7. Ping Pong Politics. i.e., Chinese Foreign Relations marked by invitations to international Ping Pong tournaments (30 photographs) 8. Land reclamation and development measures (20 photographs, 1969 - 1972) 9. A small selection of Chang Song's work covering the campaigns of the late 1960s.
These photographs deserve further study and renewed attention I believe. While their didactic-propagandistic character is undeniable, the images create a base layer of an era which has come and gone but whose influence will be felt for many generations to come.
The collection can be accessed at http://hahn.zenfolio.com/f320124069
I am at present actively searching for photographs of China from the 1950s. Thank you. Thomas H. Hahn, Ph.D. Cornell University College of Architecture, Art and Planning."
[This latest addition to Dr Hahn's folio of documentary photographs from China is now listed in the online index of "Asian & Pacific Studies - Historical Photographs. Canberra: Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies (RSPAS), The Australian National University. [coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVLPages/AsianPages/Asian-Historical-Photographs.html - ed.]
URL http://hahn.zenfolio.com/
Internet Archive http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://hahn.zenfolio.com/
Link reported by: Thomas H. Hahn (th.hahn--at--gmail.com), forwarded by h-asia--at--h-net.msu.edu
* Resource type [news - documents - study - corporate info. - online guide]: Documents
* Publisher [academic - business - govt. - library/museum - NGO - other]: Academic
* Scholarly usefulness [essential - v.useful - useful - interesting - marginal]: V.Useful
* External links to the resource [over 3,000 - under 3,000 - under 1,000 - under 300 - under 100 - under 30]: under 300