The Taiwan Photographic Society, whose motto was realism with a local color, and the Photographic Society of China, whose rallying cry was salon pictorialism, represented the two main streams of photography on Taiwan during the 1960s and 70s. Because of differences in viewpoint, language, and thinking, the two groups moved in different circles of activity and engaged in different spheres of endeavor.
In this situation of diametrical opposition, the appearance of Chou Hsin-ch'uan marked a rather singular case. A mainlander from Hupeh Province, he spoke fluent Fukienese and owing to his easy-going, amiable manner, he built up sincere friendships among his photographic confreres, nearly all of whom were Taiwanese. During his time of service in the south of island during the 1960s, he applied himself to shooting photographs and making friends. Although he was an "outsider," he too cared about reality, related to the existing environment, and had an intimate sense of belonging toward the people and the land.
It was this feeling that enabled his works to escape the contrived planning, imitative construction, and formalistic cliches of the salon schools and find fruition in a faithfulness to life itself. Aren't photographs like "Three Generations," "Wedding," "Common Aspirations," and "Traveling Song and Dance Ensemble," with their strong local coloring, just an extension of the nostalgia for the local countryside that Chou, who has adapted himself so thoroughly to his new home, shares with the people born and raised here?
Chou Hsin-ch'uan was born in 1931 in Hankou, Hupeh. In 1949 he followed the government to Taiwan along with his elder brother and went to a school for Air Force children in Taichung. At age 31, deciding he should acquire a professional skill, he tested into the Taiwan Police Academy, where he entered the Central Police College. He was especially interested in criminal and documentary photography, and besides his course work in that area, he also joined the school's photo club, concentrating his energies and expertise in the field of photography.
After graduation Chou was sent to Tainan, in the south of the island, to handle photography for the criminal division of the police department there. After work he would go out hunting for shots of the life of the people, as a balance to the monotonous routine of police photography.
Chou's first personal camera was a Minolta Srt that he bought second hand at a pawnshop. In 1963 he met Hsu Yuan-fu, Huang Teng-k'o, and Hsieh Chen-ch'ien, fellow photo enthusiasts, and entered the Anonymous Photo Club, where he learned about the concepts and techniques of realistic photography from Teng Nan-kuang and Chang Shih-hsien. Later he set up the Tainan Amateur Photo Club and held important positions in the Taiwan Photographic Society and the Tainan Photographic Society, contributing greatly toward to the advance of photography in the south of the island.
His photo series "Traveling Song and Dance Ensemble" was taken in 1968. From setting up the stage and putting on makeup to the actual performance, it shows the life on the road of traveling outdoor performers from four different angles. Simple, direct, and vivid, the pictures were taken in a spirit of curiosity and intuition without trying to drag in any grandiose aesthetic or philosophical concepts.
In "Wedding" and "Common Aspirations," Chou used the "sneaks hot" method to catch the scene as he saw it. The girl and the boy sitting on motorbikes and combing their hair in the rearview mirrors recall what it was like to be a teenager on Taiwan in the sixties, when it seemed as though a motorbike and a comb were enough to get a young person through adolescence. "Wedding" is an apt portrayal of the conjunction of the traditional and the contemporary.
The clear, bold composition of "An Impression of a Salt Field" exudes a natural, down-to-earth flavor. The hill of salt, the banks of cloud, and the worker on the tracks are visible entities that combine to produce an invisible sense of forward movement and vital energy.
"Three Generations," a piece rich in symbolism and intimacy, was shot in an old alley in Tainan. The figures seem to have emerged from the brick walls of a time tunnel--they stop and smile, a tough ness and tenacity revealed in their contentment with life.
In "Stealing a Wink" and "Harvest Time," the composition may seem rather contrived to us now, but the method was commonly favored by photographers at the time. If the background were unnatural or incomplete, then the photographer would rely on an obvious foreground to fill up or set off the remaining space.
Chou's records in black and white of life in the country were taken during his time in the south from 1963 to 1972. After his transfer to the National Police Administration, his living space changed, and everything slowly becomes color. He is now chief editor of the Journal of Photographic Society of Taiwan, the monthly magazine of the Photographic Society, and director of photography for a police recreation society. His busy schedule on the job and off leaves him little time to go out hunting for pictures as before.
These black-and-white recollections of his are an imperishable record of Chou's growth as a photographer and provide us in the eighties with stunning glimpses of days gone by.
[Picture Caption]
Chou Hsin-ch'uan at age 47, 1978.
An impression of a Salt Field, 1968.
Three Generations, 1968.
Traveling Song and Dance Ensemble (1), 1968.
Traveling Song and Dance Ensemble (2), 1968.
Traveling Song and Dance Ensemble (3), 1968.
Traveling Song and Dance Ensemble (4), 1968.
Wedding, 1971.
Common Aspirations, 1968.
Stealing a Wink, 1969.
Harvest Time, 1969.
An impression of a Salt Field, 1968.
Traveling Song and Dance Ensemble （1）, 1968.
Traveling Song and Dance Ensemble （2）, 1968.
Traveling Song and Dance Ensemble （3）, 1968.
Traveling Song and Dance Ensemble （4）, 1968.
Common Aspirations, 1968.
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