Lizhensheng

Lizhensheng (b. 1940), Chinese photojournalist who began working for the state-controlled Heilongjiang Daily in Harbin, a major industrial centre in north-eastern China, in October 1964. Between 1966 and 1976 he chronicled the traumatic events of the Cultural Revolution, photographing ‘struggle meetings’, parades, and the public humiliation of ‘class enemies’. Subsequently he recorded the downfall of those who had seized the opportunity to amass power and wealth: the ‘coal queen’ Wang Shouxin, for example, shown in February 1980 on trial, having her jaw dislocated to silence her pleas, and awaiting execution in a snowy field near Harbin. In 1982 Li moved to Beijing to teach photography at the International Political Science Institute. Later, he smuggled c.30, 000 carefully annotated negatives to the USA. They form a chilling and probably unique visual record of the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath in an important region.

— Robin Lenman

Bibliography

• Li Zhensheng, Red-Color News Soldier (2003)