A New York Times review of “Coal + Ice,” Three Shadows’ largest photo exhibit to date, points out its “focus on global warming.” While this might attract armchair environmentalists, viewing the show from this angle alone obscures the bigger picture. Sure, there are giant photos and projected installations of the melting glaciers and teeming waters resulting from climate change, but there are also the coal miners themselves – determination and exhaustion mingling with the dirt on their faces – and the almost glorious industrial refineries.

Liu Heung Shing is a living legend in Chinese photography circles. The Hong Kong-born photographer took his first professional images in China following Mao’s death in 1976, and over the following seven years produced an extraordinary body of work capturing daily life in a rapidly transforming nation.

Long before embarking on a career in photojournalism that would include winning a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the collapse of the Soviet Union, before winning the 1989 Picture of the Year award for his coverage of China, before photographer Liu Heung Shing had ever picked up a camera - he was attending grade school in Fujian province. Years later, in 2008, Liu put his lifetime of experience photographing China to work editing China: Portrait of a Country. The huge book of photographs, taken by 88 Chinese photographers, gives a visual history of the country from 1949 to the present day, and has been hailed by many as one of the best books on the “New China” ever published. Liu will be taking part in the sold out Committing Journalism session at the Bookworm's International Literary Festival The Beijinger asked Liu about the book, and about his extraordinary career. You can browse our March issue (online version here) for interviews with many of the other authors appearing at the festival. You can browse the events here or on the Bookworm's official Literary Festival page.

All photos and photo captions below are taken from Liu Heung Shing's book, China: Portrait of a Country.

Head over to the Beijinger Gallery to view some of the great images that we've snapped at various events over the past week. We've just uploaded pics from last weekend's Halloween Parties as well as images from Kanye West's show at Workers' Gymnasium. If you've got any images that you want to share with us, send an e-mail to blog@thebeijinger.com.

Head over to the Beijinger Gallery to view some of the great images that we've snapped at various events over the past few weeks. We've just uploaded pics from our 7th Anniversary Party, Midi 2008, Modern Sky, the Diesel XXX Party, the Grand Opening of Drei Kronen 1308 and Eric Abrahamsen's talk at the China Culture Center.