从22岁开始，法国摄影记者亨利·卡蒂埃 - 布列松（1908-2004）大部分时间都在路上，总是带着相机。 他在20世纪30年代早期通过街头摄影实验超现实主义，在第二次世界大战后转向摄影新闻。
布列松以其“决定性瞬间”的概念而闻名。 他不间断的旅行使他能够捕捉到世界各地无数的地方，包括1958年大跃进期间的中国。以下的照片是在20世纪50年代末拍摄的，布列松正在为美国著名的LIFE杂志工作。 作者对现代世纪进行了深远的视觉描述，捕捉了中国不断变化的日常生活。
CHINA.Sin Kiang. Turfan. 1958. A mother lays down her child for a siesta. A Moslem and one of the national minorities (Uigur, Hui, Kasaks, Tatars, Shihpo, and Han), she works in the vineyards of a newly formed commune.
Sinkiang Province. Urumchi.
CHINA. Beijing. 1958.
CHINA. Beijing. 1958. A unit of the People's Militia awaits their turn at the daily morning drill. In the background, Tien An Men Palace where the country's leaders stand to review patriotic parades.
CHINA. The "Great Leap Forward". 1958. This gigantic Sanmenshia Dam is being built on the Yellow River by 7000 permanent workers plus innumerable volunteers.
CHINA. Shanghai. 1958.
CHINA. The "Great Leap Forward". 1958. This gigantic Sanmenshia Dam is being built on the Yellow River by 7000 permanent workers plus innumerable volunteers.
CHINA. 1958. Dinner on the dining car between Beijing and Shenyang (Liaoning Province) costs between 0,50 centimes and 1 yuan 20 (about 70 cents), so many buy a snack from platform vendors. This one sells chicken, another noddles.
CHINA. The "Great Leap Forward". 1958. Commune of Shiu Shin (310.000 inhabitants living in 280 villages divided into 7 Popular Communes spread over 600 square kilometers). Peasants work their own windboxes on the blast furnaces. Each thirty minutes, some 50 kilos of iron is smelted in the several hundred ovens.
Beijing.
CHINA. Sichuan Province. Chengdu. The "Great Leap Forward". 1958.
A male nurse disenfects all who enter the city in an effort to halt an epidemic. Fearful of their well-known "facility to catch cold", the Chinese use Draconian methods to combat it.
CHINA. The "Great Leap Forward". 1958. Commune of Shiu Shin (310.000 inhabitants living in 280 villages divided into 7 Popular Communes spread over 600 square kilometers). Schoolboys resting after their daily drill. Sons of peasants, they form a militia trained in the handling of guns, hand grenades, and such enemy agents as might be dropped from planes. On the wall, the slogan: "Everybody loves to work".
Peking. Beneath the modern sign advertising sneakers, vendors of lively chirping crickets.
Shanghai.At Shanghai's Palace Culture, 10.000 workers come each Sunday to play ping pong, checkers, and listen to lectures. During the week, some 5000 visit daily this former hotel located near what was a race track. In all, there are 19 "cultural" clubs for workers plus organizations belonging to specific factories.
Fujian. Fuzhou (coal town).
Shanghai.
General store in Tsao Yang, one of the newly built suburbs. The population of this suburb has "leaped ahead", along with the accelerated production of Shanghai, having increased by 7000 families since its birth.
CHINA. The "Great Leap Forward". Liaoning Province. Shenyang. 1958.
Pigtailed students stride to class in the Engineering school.
CHINA. Beijing. 1958. The Chinese Culture Park. Exhibition on "Bridges and railroad systems", as an example of progress made since the Communist take-over.
Ganzu province. Yumen.Oil workers from the Petrol Combine, whose production has jumped 200% in the past ten years.
CHINA. Sin Kiang. Sian. 1958. As an after-school hours project, youngsters pave the sidewalks of their neighborhood under the supervision of their mothers.
Fujian. Fuzhou (coal town).
The Langchow to Yumen train.
Peking.
Celebrations of the Popular Republic's 9th anniversary.
CHINA. The Great Wall. 1958.
CHINA. The "Great Leap Forward". Beijing. 1958. At ease beside the arms of her unit, a woman member of the People's Militia catches up on official reading matter before beginnning her daily drill.
© Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos
