An Encounter of Images Across the Taiwan Strait

Some say that we can learn about a country's lifestyles through its advertisements; however, to understand a country's soul we should look at its photography.

During the damp, dark days of winter, while the city of Taichung was warily preparing for a visit from Chen Yunlin, president of mainland China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits, a heart-to-heart encounter between Taiwan and the mainland was quietly taking place in a corner of Huashan Culture Park in Taipei.

Founded in 2001, the China Pingyao International Photography Festival is the mainland's largest photo exhibition. The city of Pingyao in Shanxi Province, formerly an ancient capital established 3000 years ago, is the only Chinese Han nationality ancient city listed as a World Cultural Heritage site. Now, thanks to the festival, it has become a pilgrimage site for photographers from around the world.

In past years, photographers from Taiwan have been frequent visitors to the Pingyao photography festival. In 2008, it brought in a record number of over 2200 exhibiting participants. For the ninth edition of the festival, organizers have added a new feature: a travelling exchange exhibition. Taipei was the first destination of this exchange exhibition, where both classic works from years past as well as works from invited Taiwanese photographers were exhibited. The exhibit showcased close to 170 pictures contributed by a total of 57 participants: 26 from mainland China, 23 from Taiwan, and eight from other countries. Taiwan Panorama is offering its readers a look at some of these images, dividing the display into two parts: "Mainland" and "International."

Li Xiaofei, "Temple Fair" series

Wang Chen, "Expressions of the Earth" series

A Yin, "China's Nomadic Mongols" series

Lu Jun, "When I Lost My Way" digital ink series

Chi Peng, Rushing Towards II

A Yin, "China's Nomadic Mongols" series

A Yin, "China's Nomadic Mongols" series

Zhang Wang, "Buddha's Footprints" series

Han Zhizhou, "The Last Warhorse" series

A Yin, "China's Nomadic Mongols" series