In 1989, that was Tiananmen. Days later, the tanks rolled in — and Liu became one of a few to document the Tiananmen Square massacre, creating images that stunned the world. This photograph by Liu Heung Shing, taken in Tiananmen 9 years before the fateful student protests there, typifies the Chinese social documentary tradition that sprang to life in the 1980s. Meanwhile, foreign collectors are learning how to place Chinese photography into a tradition that's been dominated by Westerners. Naturally absent from PHOTOFAIRS and SCoP are any trace of Liu's famous Tiananmen pictures — records of the past that remain the most elusive and unspeakable of all.

Source: CNN September 12, 2016 02:11 UTC