Explore 1980s Beijing Through the Gentle Eye of British Photographer Adrian Bradshaw
The way that Adrian Bradshaw started out in China will sound familiar to many of us; driven by curiosity and the want to experience a world that seemed far removed from our own, he came to Beijing in his 20s to study Mandarin. The big difference is that it was 1984, only half a decade after Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening-up policy had come into effect, flinging the doors of the Middle Kingdom open to international trade and all the modern luxuries that came with it. To put things in perspective, it would be another three years until China would get its first taste of fast food.
Luckily for us, it was also during this period of rapid change and renewed hope that the British student took to honing his other budding skill: photography. When he wasn't covering visits by world megastars like Mohammad Ali or crashing the set of Bernardo Bertolucci's filming of The Last Emperor, Bradshaw made it his goal to walk the streets and capture the lives of ordinary citizens.
As described in the press release for Bradshaw's new book The Door Opened: 1980s China, which he will personally be promoting at the Beijing International Book Fair, Aug 21-25, the photographer "was in the company of the young people who drove the reform era and built many of the features of 21st Century China: the artists, farmers, entrepreneurs, and industrialists whose enthusiasm and positivity made things happen. This energy that made history is still bursting forth."
Apart from the onslaught of bicycles, the resulting photographs perhaps don't look so different from Beijing today – a father and his child play in front of the Workers' Gymnasium, a lady sells snacks from behind a sliding window, a lone shopper browses a rag-tag clothes outlet – but they exceed the mundane by the empathy and understanding that Bradshaw provides to his subjects, his camera doing little to disturb the everyday scenes in front of him.
Bradshaw ended up staying in China for more than 30 years – longer than any other overseas photojournalist. Below, he introduces us to some of his proudest Beijing shots, moments that "built the foundations of an outward-looking, successful, and confident China today."
If you'd like your own copy of Adrian Bradshaw's The Door Opened: 1980s China, you can purchase it via Impress Publishing here. Alternatively, visit the publisher's stand at this week's Beijing International Book Fair, Aug 21-25.
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Photos: Adrian Bradshaw
