Workers in Chongqing Steel Factory by Dai Xiaobing (The group of photos were recopied by Qi Lansen)

Work hand-over of Steam Locomotive Workers in Fuxin, Liaoning by Wang Yuwen

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- Recently, the “Witness reality － Exhibition of Photography Works of Old Industrial Bases and the Third-Front Movement” was held in Chongqing Art Museum. The exhibition gathered more than 200 image works of old industrial bases and the Third-Front Movement in Chongqing, Shanghai, Liaoning, Hunan and other provinces (cities), showing a history with temperature.

Chongqing has always been an important industrial city in modern times. During the Anti-Japanese War, many important domestic industrial facilities moved to Chongqing. In the Third-Front Movement in 1960s and 1970s, there were more than 100 third-front industrial enterprises and scientific research institutions in eight districts and ten counties under the jurisdiction of Chongqing Municipality, which were rich in modern industrial remains.

The reporter of Chongqing Daily saw on the spot that the exhibition was divided into two parts: “Old Industrial Base” and “the Third-Front Movement”. The demolition and reconstruction of the original site of Chongqing Iron and Steel Group, the old and new landscape of Shanghai Huangpu River Wharf, the workers on the way to and from work in the Dongbei Factory, and the coal miners working hard in Guizhou Mining Area... The photography works of the “old industrial base” plate recorded the changes of old industrial bases in China.

The exhibition also showed stories behind old industrial bases in different cities in China by using multiple artistic methods such as video and image devices. For example, They was 30 video devices shot by Wen Cong, each of which recorded stories of a participant in Chongqing’s industrial construction. “Some of them are from Southwest Aluminum, some are from dockyard, and most of them come from other places. They settled down in Chongqing for the industrial construction of Chongqing. Now most of them are in their 80s, and the oldest one is 100 years old.” Wen Cong said that he filmed 60 or 70 such industrial construction participants in Chongqing, finally selected 30 videos of the objects, and removed the voice to let the audience feel the expression of the builders in the “speechless” form.

In the “Third-Front Movement” section, time-lapse images showed the third-line construction in Liaoning, Hubei, Sichuan and Guizhou. Some works belong to shelf installations. For example, there is an industrial machine milling machine with a history of more than 100 years on the site. This milling machine was manufactured by Germany in the 1850s, successively produced in Jiangnan General Manufacturing Bureau, Nanjing Jinling Military Factory, etc., and experienced the the Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), the Revolution of 1911, the Founding of The People’s Republic of China and other historical periods. Different photographers recorded and expressed the changes of time with various works.

The exhibition will last to December 27, and you can visit it for free. (Translated by Luo Juan, Fathom Language Limited)