Photo exhibition marks changes

Two girls look at a photo during an exhibition in Beijing's Wangfujing area, December 17, 2008. The show features about 800 photos taken across the country during the past three decades to highlight the major changes China has gone through since 1978. [Asianewsphoto]

A woman talks on her cell phone in front of a photo which was taken in the 1990s and showed a woman using an old-fashionedmobile device, December 18, 2008. The show features about 800 photos taken across the country during the past three decades to highlight the major changes China has gone through since 1978. [Asianewsphoto]

Two girls have their pictures taken at a photo exhibition in Beijing's Wangfujing area, December 17, 2008. The show features about 800 photos taken across the country during the past three decades to highlight the major changes China has gone through since 1978. [Asianewsphoto]

A woman talks on her cell phone as she walks past a huge photo which was taken in the 1990s and showed a woman using an old-fashioned mobile device, at an exhibition featuring China's 30 years' reform and opening-up at Wangfujing Street, downtown Beijing, December 16, 2008. The photo exhibition named "30 Years Of Daily Life" is held to mark the 30th anniversary of China's reform initiative. [CFP]

It was freezing and windy Wednesday but visitors to the Beijing downtown area did not seem to be seeking the warmth of Wangfujing's famed malls.

Their interest was focused outdoors - on a 200-m long photo exhibition featuring 800 pictures to mark the 30th anniversary of China's reform and opening up.

They had plenty to attract their attention: Images from the last three decades; and were just as keen to photograph the photos, which encapsulate the startling changes in people's lives.

Cao Xufang, a 57-year-old migrant worker, seemed lost as he contemplated life in the 1970s reflected in a black-and-white photo.

The driver of a State-owned food company got laid off in 1992; and like many other people in the rural areas,left to work in the capital.

"Of course our life is much better now," Cao told China Daily. "I have been working almost everywhere in Beijing and seen the rapid growth in suburban areas such as Shunyi and Tongzhou."

Xu Dongdong was born just five years before 1978 and has a clear memory of what life was like 30 years ago.

"When I was little, we could not afford to eat rice; only corn cakes," the doctor from Heilongjiang province said.

The generation born after the 1980s also found the photos captivating. Du Xiaomin, a 22-year-old saleswoman who was there with a friend, said: "Our life cannot be better When I was a child, I used to feel excited for days after eating out at KFC. But now KFC is just like a canteen to me."