Li Zhensheng

Li Zhensheng (1940–2020) was a Chinese photojournalist whose clandestine images documented the Cultural Revolution in Heilongjiang, including political campaigns and public denunciations.

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Red-Color News Soldier: A photographic book presenting Li Zhensheng’s images of the Cultural Revolution in China. This book brought his concealed photographic archive to international audiences.
Red Guards: Student and youth groups mobilized to attack the “Four Olds” and political enemies during the Cultural Revolution. Their campaigns and public actions formed part of the upheaval Li documented.
Cultural Revolution: A political movement in China from 1966 to 1976 that sought to enforce Maoist orthodoxy and transformed society through mass campaigns. It was the defining upheaval that Li photographed.
Cultural Revolution memory: The contested public and personal remembrance of China’s Cultural Revolution. Li’s uncensored images contribute evidence to debates over how the decade is remembered.
Harbin: The capital of Heilongjiang province in northeastern China. Li worked as a photojournalist in Harbin, where many of his images were made.
People’s Daily: The Chinese Communist Party’s principal national newspaper, founded in 1948. Li’s work appeared within a tightly controlled state media system.
Mao Zedong: Chinese communist revolutionary and leader of the People’s Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976. Mao launched the political movement whose campaigns filled Li’s assignments.
Visual history: The study of the past through images and visual sources. His archive shows how photographs can preserve details omitted from official accounts.
Heilongjiang: A northeastern Chinese province bordering Russia and North Korea. The province was the setting for Li’s reporting and the campaigns he photographed.
Xinhua News Agency: China’s state news agency, which supplies domestic and international news reporting. Its official reporting environment helps explain the constraints on photojournalism in Li’s era.