Liu Heung Shing: A Life in a Sea of Red

Book info: Liu Heung Shing: A Life in a Sea of Red (Hardcover, 288 pages) – Steidl, 2019. Language: English.

This book contains the two most important bodies of work by Pulitzer Prize–winning photojournalist Liu Heung Shing (born 1951): photos that document pivotal decades of Communism in China and Russia, made between 1976 and 2017. A Life in a Sea of Red presents scenes of hope, hardship and change under―and in the aftermath of―Communist rule.Liu arrived in Beijing in 1978 on assignment for Time magazine to photograph the country at a moment of momentous transition―from the withdrawal of Mao’s portraits from the public realm, to the increase in free commercial, artistic and personal expression, to the violence in Tiananmen Square in 1989 and, more recently, the rise of Chinese yuppies.In contrast, Liu’s photos of Russia, taken between 1990 and 1993, document the collapse of a Communist state. The most enduring of these shows Gorbachev throwing down the speech he delivered on December 25, 1991, announcing his resignation and signaling the end of the Soviet Union and Cold War.

Editorial Reviews Review Liu, a Pulitzer Prize winner, used his lens to catch the poetry, drama and even humour of daily life under these regimes – and what happened when unrest inevitably boiled over. -- Joyce Lau ― South China Morning Post

Liu’s impressive new photo book, “A Life in a Sea of Red,” is a rat-a-tat-tat I-was-there collection of the most memorable, most revealing pictures made during a 40-year career covering China and Russia at times of unprecedented upheaval. -- Bill Shapiro ― Los Angeles Times

[A Life in a Sea of Red] features gripping images taken four decades of chaotic revolution and tumultuous change as the West's Cold War adversaries struggled to cope with change under and after the Communist rule. ― ColdType

[Liu Heung Shing's] candid portraits and ground-level street photography offer a distinctly human perspective. -- Oscar Holland ― CNN

Scenes of hope, hardship and change under Communist party rule. ― Guardian

[A Life in a Sea of Red] is an adaptation of the Chinese phrase “alive in the bitter sea." The original phrase means to survive life’s hard circumstances and for Liu Heung Shing it aptly describes the life of people under the Communist rule in the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union. -- Caterina Bellinetti ― Art and Object