What views did Liu Bannong express on photography in "Bannong Talks about Photography"?

In 1927, Liu Bannong published China's first book on photography aesthetics, "Bannong Talks about Film". In the book, he first refutes Qian Xuantong's argument that "anyone who loves photography must be an imbecile", as well as various erroneous claims that painting is more valuable than taking photos. He said: Paintings are paintings and photos are photos. Although there are similarities between the two, they each have their own characteristics and cannot imitate each other. If the purpose of photography is to imitate paintings, it would be better to simply learn to paint. Then, Liu Bannong divided photography into three categories. In addition to photo studio business, there are also two categories: carbon copy photography and non-reproduction photography. He believes that different types of photography require different rules. Instead of copying "art photography", the emphasis is on "freehand brushwork".