Amateurism: An Alternative Narrative of Photography in China, Part I

Abstract

As the first part of a long history-ethnography dedicated to amateur photography in China – an understudied, yet impactful, visual culture within the country’s modern history and contemporary society – this article provides a historical account of the shifts in the definition of ‘amateurism’ in Chinese social, cultural, and ideological scenes from the 1840 s to the present. It argues that the idea(l) of amateurism is rooted in traditional Chinese cultural elites and representative of an avant-garde spirit, which was invested in photographic practices before the technology was popularized in China in the 1980s. The article also identifies how a new kind of photographic amateurism began to develop with the rise of the urban middle class in the 1980s. Today, photography embodies the thriving mass culture and has become ubiquitous in ordinary people’s everyday lives as a medium that empowers the invisible to emerge and the muted to speak.

Keywords:

• photography in China
• history of photography
• photographic amateurism
• visual modernity

Acknowledgments

This article originates from a public lecture, ‘Is Amateurism Possible? An Alternative History of Photography in China,’ delivered at the Taikang Space, Beijing, in July 2021. The author wants to take the opportunity to express his deepest gratitude to the anonymous reviewer for the incredibly detailed comments and to Professor Shengqing Wu for her honest, encouraging, and highly constructive open review that advises the future development of the topic. Acknowledgements also go to Chelsea Liu, Hao Hu, and Yue Yang from the Taikang Space for their insightful comments; to Youmin Jin for allowing me to reproduce Luo Bonian’s works; and to the anonymous collector of Chen Wanli’s The Gale Collection, who generously photocopied the rare book for the author’s research use.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 For instance, in A History of Chinese Images, Volume One, the authors dedicated the first chapter to Mozi and his pinhole imaging experiment, positioning them as the ‘ancestor of photographic optics’ (Sha and Han 2014, 37). Similarly, Lin and Wang (2011, 1–7) also use the same example to begin their monograph on the history of art photography in China. See also the opening lines of Terry Bennett’s third volume of his History of Photography in China trilogy (2013, 1).

2 The phrase ‘a hundred years of humiliation’ or ‘a century of humiliation’ is commonly used in Chinese national narratives and official rhetoric. A comprehensive review on its historical origins and contemporary usage can be found in Chapter 3, ‘A “Century of Humiliation”’ in Gries’ China’s New Nationalism: Pride, Politics, and Diplomacy (2004, 43—53).

3 It should be noted here that even in France, where the photography industry had been rapidly developing since 1839, photography as a technology was not known to most of the country’s population until the Paris Exposition in 1855. For relevant information (see Freund 1980, 53). Similarly, in mid-19th century Britain, photography ‘was practiced and controlled mainly by amateurs,’ who were ‘influential individuals’ – also known as ‘gentlemen’ – at that time (Seiberling and Bloore 1986, 1). In fact, Major Malcom was General George Alexander Malcom, born to Sir John Malcolm, the Governor of Bombay. He was later appointed as a colonial officer in Hong Kong. Dr Woosnam was Richard Woosnam, son of a solicitor and first Mayor of Glandwr in Wales, and a Cambridge graduate. He joined the Bombay Army in 1840 as an assistant surgeon and was Deputy Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong from 1841 to 1844 (Butt 2015).

4 For critical inquiries on such a way of seeing, see Empires of Vision (2014), edited by Martin Jay and Sumathi Ramaswamy. Ramaswamy’s introduction, which emphasizes the agency of colonial images to ‘look back’ and influence the West, and to unsettle the dominating textuality with visuality (2014, 3–7), was particularly inspiring in the writing of this article.

5 For an overview of the background, origin, and content of the Self-Strengthening Movement, see Ting-Yee Kuo’s Chapter 10 ‘Self-strengthening: the pursuit of Western technology,’ in The Cambridge History of China, Volume 10, edited by John K. Fairbank (1978, 491—542).

6 Prince Gong and Prince Chun were political rivals, with the latter gradually taking over the former’s power after 1865. For a detailed review of their disputes on Western affairs, see Kuo (1978, 506–507).

7 It should be noted that the idea of nationalist amateurism does not refer to a national amateur photography practice. Rather, it stands for an increasing nationalist consciousness in the amateur photography, practiced by the educated Chinese in the republican era, as a critical continuation of the late Qing literati amateurism by pursuing a ‘Chineseness’ in photographic practices and imaging aesthetics.

8 Kang Youwei (1858–1927) was one of the most prominent reformists and thinkers in modern China. He had a keen interest in photography; his portrait was taken in Powkee (see Gu 2017, 64) and he left behind some of the earliest photo critiques in China. They were short pieces combining formal analysis, technical indications, and, unsurprisingly, poems. These materials have appeared in several compilations of the early writing and theory of photography in China, see Long (2015), Zhu and Yang (2014).

9 Manuals and guides included The Guide to Photography (Sheying zhinan) by Ouyang Huiqiang (1923) and Photography Retold (Zhaoxiang xinbian) by Wu Yangzeng (1907). Pictorials using photographic works frequently included The True Record (Zhenxiang huabao), World (Shijie), and there were also ‘photobooks’ dedicated to landscape photography, such as Landscape of the West Lake (Xihu gejing) produced by Erwoxuan Studio in 1910 and Scenic China Series I: Huang Shan, Anhui, published by Commercial Press Limited in Shanghai around 1915. See Ma et al. (1987, 76–97), Gu (2017, 68).

10 For a comprehensive record of the ‘middle strata’ in the early republican era, see ‘Chapter 14, “The Middle-Strata Society”,’ in The Social Changes of Modern Chinese Society by Chen (2017, 239–257). Chen concludes there were several types of ‘middle strata,’ among which this new intellectual group included: (1) People with scholar identities (guanshen) accredited by the Qing court but without official positions; and (2) People trained in ‘new-style schools’ or who studied abroad, equipped with Western ‘modern’ knowledge and thinking. Many of the amateur photographers during this period came from such backgrounds. Liu Bannong, for instance, was born to an impoverished scholar family. He studied hard in his early years and was admitted by the Changzhoufu Middle School (changzhoufu zhongxuetang), a new-style school, when he was 16 years old.

11 I employed Kent’s translation of xieyi, in which he further explained that the word literally means ‘writing or sketching ideas’ (2013).

12 For a detailed case study of Lang’s landscape photography with a shanshui aesthetics, see Liu (2015).

13 While some of Li Jin’s photographic practices (e.g., accepting instruction from professional photographers, publishing her works in magazines) seem to be more ‘professional’ than ‘amateur,’ I ask the reader to kindly revisit the concept of ‘professional amateur,’ which is discussed in earlier sections of this article. Similar to other professional amateurs preceding her, Li Jin is also ‘a photographer who was professionally skilful but occupationally amateur.’

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC, 22ZD04).

Notes on contributors

Yunchang Yang

Dr Yunchang Yang is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the School of Arts, Peking University and co-editor of Photography and Culture. His research interests include the anthropology of art, visual anthropology, and modern and contemporary Chinese visual culture.