Wang Qiuhang 王秋杭 (born in 18 September 1949 in Rushan, Shandong province) is a retired professional photographer, who is best known for his selfies taken during the Cultural Revolution. His passion for photography originated in his childhood, when he encountered for the first time pictures of women pasted in cigarettes cases.
He explains: « When I was a child, on my way to school, I used to pass nearby a house, whose inside room facing the street was covered with colourful cigarettes cases. The owner was a very old hunchbacked grandpa. (…) One day at last he let me in and I felt I entered a wonderful world suddenly… ».
Since then Wang has been collecting assiduously a variety of vintage photographs – mainly but not exclusively of women - while documenting them. Today his collection encompasses nearly one thousand vintage photographs dating back to the late nineteenth century and the Republican period.
