Traditional Culture Encyclopedia - Photography and portraiture - China's photo in the album.

China's photo in the album.

When the technology of "photographing" was introduced to China in the late Qing Dynasty, it was rejected by all walks of life. Under the influence of feudal ethics for thousands of years, exposing the human body is taboo and shameful for both women and men. At that time, even taking pictures was regarded as an alternative, let alone body art. After the May 4th Movement, the western wind spread to the east, and the traditional concept of Chinese people began to change. Women throw away the shackles of Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism, emancipate their minds and clothes. When the openness of ideas and clothing is integrated into photography art, China people begin to get in touch with western body art. However, although photographers clearly know the connotation of photos, the extension of photos is understood by laymen who don't understand art in various ways.

The Chinese etymology of the word "photo album" comes from the Japanese name for photos (photo, from the word "photo" in ancient China). According to the original intention of Japanese, the theme of an album can be people, animals and plants, buildings, landscapes, gems or celestial bodies, and so on. However, as the word photo album was introduced to Hong Kong in the1980s, only Hong Kong actresses Wang Xiaofeng and Kara Wai had taken nude photos and published photo albums, so the photo album at that time was only a "nude photo album" representing women in Hong Kong, even no different from ordinary pornographic publications.

Because Hong Kong and Taiwan are deeply influenced by Japanese culture, many female artists in Hong Kong and Taiwan have published photo albums with nude photos in 1990s. Over time, the definition of the word photo album in Chinese has gradually become an "photo album" with artists as models, whether naked or not. However, among the subjects other than the artist's portrait, the printed matter containing photos of other photographic subjects is still called "photo album", "photo album" or "TV series"; Unlike Japan, it is collectively referred to as an album.