What if Lei Feng served today?

Dai Xiang

By Zhang Dongya

Lei Feng died in an accident in 1962 at age 22.

After the young soldier’s death, on March 5, 1963, Chairman Mao called n everyone in the country to learn from Lei’s example. The day was a special day to learn from him.

Since then, Lei has been symbolic of “serving the people.

But what if he lived into the 21st Century?

Dai Xiang revives an icon who died 48 years in the modern era. His art tells a new story of Lei Feng that Makes viewers rethink the last decades of change. Photos provided by Dai Xiang

A set of photos named The New Story of Lei Feng by Dai Xiang has restored hope for Lei in modern times: he is seen reading The Selected Works of Mao Zedong at McDonald’s, removing advertisements from poles and posing for a Canon ad.

Lei still appears in his green military uniform, but when juxtaposed with today’s surroundings the timeless figure is clearly living in the wrong era.

Mexico commemorates bicentennial with photos on its poor

Asamblea Campesina Photos provided by Mexican Embassy

By Zhao Hongyi

The Mexican Embassy unveiled a social photography exhibition Monday to celebrate the bicentennial of the country’s independence and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution.

“Tina Modotti: A New Outlook,” showing at the Cervantes Institute from Monday to April 18, presents the works of an Italian actress and photographer who made Mexico her adopted ho.

Touched by their kindness, simplicity and sincerity, Tina Modotti took thousands of pictures capturing the daily lives of poor Mexicans. Many of her subjects were urban workers and peasant farmers who had virtually become social non-entities.

Old Beijing photos, paintings, household items on exhibit

By Zhang Dongya

An exhibition in Huguosi that opened last Friday presents the changes Shichahai has seen in the past 60 years. The items on display include hundreds of photos, paintings and daily articles from history-loving residents and folk artists.

About 200 pictures portray the historical scenic area and its residents in the past and present. Old black-and-white photos show scenes from a water-control project, and give a glimpse of one of its three lakes blanketed with lotus. Others speak of the changes in Beijingers?life by juxtaposing images of wedding dresses and houses throughout the decades.

There are also more than 20 oil paintings by folk painter Zang Daxiang, which depict the lives of people in old Beijing. One shows a peasant from the suburbs leading a donkey through the city streets as it carries soil used for building homes and growing flowers.

Other paintings show street vendors selling colored strings, golden fish and grasshoppers, knife sharpeners and kitchen knives.

Li Bin, 57, a coupon collector since the 1970s, lent his treasures to the exhibition. His collection includes coupons used between the 1960s and 1980s, such as rice, pork and “industry coupons.

“In the past, there was what we called the Four Necessitiesfor a family: a sewing machine, radio, watch and bicycle.

Shadow figures from folklores.

Aside from money, we needed coupons to buy them,?Li said, adding that in the ‘70s, he spent 152 yuan and five industry coupons to buy a bicycle.

Old household items like sewing machines, radios and black-and-white televisions are also on display, most of which were loaned by their owners.

Folk artists exhibit and sell their works in adjoining rooms. Liu Bin, 26, a descendant in a long line of kite-makers, shows visitors his colorful creations. Lu Lianda, 71, entertains audiences with his shadow puppets.

Framed shadow puppets may be taken home for 40 yuan. Other products for sale are Peking Opera makeup in glass containers, which cost from 400 to 4,000 yuan; smaller ones are 50 yuan.

Where: 57 Huguosi Dajie, Xicheng District
Open: Until August 30, 9-11 am; 1:30-4 pm
Admission: Free

War photos reveal hope in the midst of despair

The boy at a temporary shelter wonders whether his parents are still alive.

By He Jianwei

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has teamed up with five of the world’s top war photographers to create an exhibit called Our World – At War, which opened at MR Gallery in 798 Art District last Saturday.

The five photojournalists are members of the VII Photo agency, an international cooperative specializing in conflict photography. The exhibit is showcasing more than 40 photos taken in eight countries that have suffered war and conflicts in recent years: Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Haiti, Lebanon, Liberia and the Philippines.

The exhibition, which debuted in New York in May, will travel to 40 countries to mark the sesquicentennial of the Battle of Solferino, which led to the founding of the ICRC, and to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions.

The photographs offer a first-hand look at what war and armed violence do to people’s lives: The heartbreaking loneliness of an elderly woman made homeless by last year’s war between Georgia and Russia; t unbridled joy of two brothers reunited after being separated by fighting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The life of a paraplegic with spinal-cord injuries is extremely difficult, but even more so in Afghanistan.

The images depict the reality and brutality of armed conflict, but they also show that even in the darkest hours of despair, there is a sense of hope and pride, said Martin Unternahrer, communication coordinator of the ICRC.

“Too often we look at an image and we automatically put a label on what we see. There is a tendencyto think of people simply as ‘victims’ or ‘sufferers,’ but they are all human beings. War and violence can strip us of many things, but the one enduring and universal thing we all share is human dignity. Behind the sring there is always a person and that really comes across in this exhibit,” he said.

The five photojournalists met countless displaced families, prisoners, orphaned children, war surgeons, poor and widowed mothers, disabled volunteers, rebel fighters, rape victims, counselors and midwives.

“When people are suffering, it doesn’t mean they don’t express dignity. When people are afraid, it doesn’t mean they lack courage. When people an pain, it doesn’t mean they don’t have hope,” James Nachtwey, one of the photojournalists, said.

Over the past five months, Nachtwey travelled with the ICRC to Afghanistan and the Philippines’ conflict-ravaged region f Central Mindanao.

“Whatever else one might see or feel when looking at a picture of human suffering  outrage, sadness, disbelief – what I think is essential to take away from such an image is a sense of compassion,” he said.

The four other photojournalists who made up the team were Franco Pagetti, Ron Haviv, Antonin Kratochvil and Christopher Morris.

The exhibition is part of the ICRC and Red Crescent Movement’s Our World, Your Mov campaign, which aims to “highlight today’s most pressing humanitarian challenges and the power of individuals to make a difference,” Unternahrer said.

The ICRC also did an opinion survey to measure the impact of armed conflict on the civilian population in the eight countries.

According to the study, about 50 percent of the respondents witnessed armed conflict and two-thirds of the population were involved in it. “Over 50 pecent have become homeless. The figure is higher in some countries. For instance, in Afghanistan, the figure is 76 percent and about 90 percent in Liberia,” Unternahrer said.

Although people in those countries suffered a lot, about half of the respondents are still optimistic about their future, he said.