Brief introduction of Zhuang Xueben

194 1 year, Zhuang Xueben held the Xikang Film Festival, which introduced the mountains, rivers, geography, nationalities and products of Xikang with a true image and attracted more than 200,000 visitors, including Yu Youren, Chen Lifu, Chen and other senior officials of the Kuomintang. According to Zhuang Xueben's article "Organizing the Xikang Film Festival", "The collection of film festival materials accounts for 23 counties and takes 3 years. There are 3 cities (Chongqing, Chengdu and Ya 'an) holding film festivals, 8 venues, 9 exhibitions and 37 days, with an audience of about 200,000 (Chongqing 654.38+ 10,000, Chengdu 654.38+ 10,000 and Ya 'an 8000). 194 1 From February to May, more than a dozen newspapers and magazines such as Chongqing Xinmin Daily, Chongqing Ta Kung Pao, Chengdu Central Daily and Chengdu China Daily also reported the Xikang Film Festival.

On 1949, Zhuang Xueben began an obvious change: he still mainly took portrait photos, and also took the opportunity of going out for an interview in National Pictorial to carry out investigations in various places, but "he no longer took photos entirely in his own name, but began to choose subjects according to political needs, and the photos became very sunny, triumphant and high-spirited."

On April 8th, 1965, Mr. and Mrs. Zhuang Xueben, then deputy director of the editorial department of Ethnic Pictorial, were forced to leave Beijing and return to their hometown in Pudong, Shanghai, ending their photography career.

During the Cultural Revolution, Zhuang Xueben handed over all his private property, including thousands of photos. His wish to hold a photo exhibition has not come true.

During the Cultural Revolution, more than half of the tens of thousands of films and cultural materials of western ethnic minorities he shot through hardships have been lost, and some of them are now kept in the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of China Academy of Social Sciences, the National Culture Palace, the National Pictorial and the Sichuan Institute of Nationalities.

Even on 1984, when he died at his home in Pudong, Shanghai, he was still asked to delete the word "famous photographer" from the photographer's eulogy.

It was not until the end of the 20th century that this photographer, who was forgotten by the public and the history of photography, began to be labeled as "master photographer" and "pioneer of image anthropology in China". Li Mei, Xiao, Li, Feng Yuan and other scholars who are active in the intellectual circles have written articles in memory of Zhuang Xueben. Li Mei, a photography theorist, said: "Zhuang Xueben is fully qualified to be an important master in the history of photography in China." As a result, his works were widely known and his position in the history of photography was re-established.