On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Switzerland and China, the Consulate General of Switzerland in Guangzhou, in co-operation with the Swiss Foundation for Photography in Zurich, is showing the exhibition “CHINA BETWEEN YESTERDAY AND TOMORROW” with 65 photographs by the Swiss photographer Fernand Gigon from the 1950s.
The Swiss Fernand Gigon (1908-1986) made first a career as a writer, theater author and film reviewer. After the foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Switzerland belonged to the first countries which recognized the new State and started diplomatic relations with the Chinese Government. Therefore, the journalist and photographer Fernand Gigon received the authorization to travel to the Middle Kingdom already in the 1950s. He was impressed by the huge amount of people – 600 million at the time – who set out to a new age in the name of communism and had to find their own way into the modern world. His inconspicuous observations show respect for the photographed people who also keep their pride and dignity under difficult conditions. Gigons photographs are characterized by the sense of the beauty and tribulations of everyday life, from the thrill of chance and enigmatic.
