People, Turning Points and Great Progress of a Country —400 Unforgettable Chinese Moments over 40 Years

—400 Unforgettable Chinese Moments over 40Years

By focusing on key moments, developments and scenes from ordinary people’s lives, the book series attempts to document the images of an era and express how the reform and opening up reached the people’s hearts.

In 1978, China made a great decision in launching the reform and opening-up policy, ushering in the most important and far-reaching social change for the country in modern times.

Published to commemorate the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up, this book series comprises four volumes, each covering a decade, with 400 timeless photographs alongside interpretive text. From the perspective of characters and scenes, it traces the development process across four decades in China.

Chen Xiaoming, chief editor of the work, wrote in the preface that the book series was compiled based on the recognition that the reform and opening up really actualized the political concept of “the people being the masters of the country.”

By focusing on key moments, developments and scenes from ordinary people’s lives, the book series attempts to document the images of an era and express how the reform and opening up reached the people’s hearts.

“China’s reform and opening up over the past 40 years seems to have been a process in which history was injected with new dynamism and constantly revitalized and developed,” noted Chen Xiaoming. “Every Chinese person, as an individual, has joined in the process of creating history and shared the vitality of the times. This book series aims to provide a few pieces and sides of the big picture through stories s of those individuals and shine the great light of the reform and opening up through a variety of prisms.”

By consulting millions of words rds of news reports, political commenentary and chronicles of events and

digging through tens of thousands of documentary photographs and news pictures, compilers finally settled on typical works from nearly 300 well-known contemporary Chinese photographers including Li Xiaobin and He Yanguang as well as works from some famous foreign photographers and media institutions such as Yann Layma, Corbis and Getty.

“Browsing the various pictures collected in the book series creates visual rhythm and beat for China’s reform and opening up composed of the faces, smiles and colorful life stories of ordinary people,” said Wang Xuedian, a renowned Chinese historian, member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and executive dean of the Advanced Institute for Confucian Studies at Shandong University.

A huge blasting preluded the construction of Shenzhen Shekou Industrial Zone in 1979. Over the past four decades, the look of Shenzhen and people's lives in the city have been completely changed, setting a “Shenzhen model” for China's reform and opening up. by He Huangyou

1990: People rush into the stock exchange to buy shares in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. The scene reflects the economic vitality brought by China's implementation of the reform and opening- up policy and people's confidence in the future development of the society. by Zhang Xinmin

In 2002, democratic elections were held at a village of the Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture in southwestern China's Guizhou Province. Since the beginning of the new century, China has paid great attention to the construction of democratic politics at the grass- roots level, which ensures the further promotion of reform and opening up. by Guo Jianshe

March 21, 2002: The Citibank Puxi Branch officially opens in Shanghai, becoming the first foreign bank approved to operate in China. It witnesses the process of China's financial opening up after the country's entry into the WTO in 2001. by Jing Wei

December 1989: Workers at a production line of an enterprise in Huli Industrial Zone in Xiamen, Fujian Province. In 1980, with the establishment of Xiamen Special Economic Zone, various foreign-funded enterprises and private enterprises sprouted, attracting many young people from rural areas to work in town. This kind of employment model has greatly promoted the integration and development process of the urban and rural areas in China. by Jiang Duo