Preface

The year 2020 is an eventful and extraordinary year for the people of the whole country, especially the people of Hubei and Wuhan. What woke people up on the morning of the Spring Festival was not firecrackers celebrating the arrival of the new year, but a call to arms to fight the virus! Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee, following the important speeches and instructions of General Secretary Xi Jinping on epidemic prevention and control, all parts of the country are united as one and mounted a fight against the COVID-19 with such courage and rapidness that the Chinese people has created another heroic endeavor in the history of human struggle against disease.

This is a people’s war in which many ordinary people came forward and fought side by side as ‘soldiers’. Their courageous and responsible actions vividly demonstrate that ‘greatness comes from the ordinary and heroes come from the people’.

Attaching great importance to the instructions of the CPC Central Committee and the Guangdong provincial party committee and government, the Shenzhen municipal party committee and government took actions at the earliest time possible, rapidly activating all-level epidemic prevention and control mechanisms and fully leveraging Shenzhen’s scientific, technological and economic advantages as a pilot demonstration zone. In an all-out bid to assist Hubei Province, a total of five medical teams, as well as construction teams, were dispatched to Hubei to shore up their medical resources and medical infrastructure building.

In this battle without smoke, photographers also showed a strong sense of social responsibility and mission. They, too, stood up, charged forward, and became one of those heroes who willingly put their lives in harm’s way. Focusing on the theme of epidemic prevention and control, they lifted their cameras as weapons and used heart-touching, deep-cutting and inspiring photographic works to boost morale, showcasing a spirit of solidarity and selflessness and galvanizing perseverance and strong will to prevail. They took pictures of the heroes and praised the medical workers who fought on the front line and all heroic stories that emerged in the fight against the epidemic with their passionate photographic works. The moment they pressed their shutters, fleeing time became eternal in the photos, together with the people and stories captured in them, forming a part of memory shared by the whole nation.

On display in this exhibition are photos taken at the front line of the epidemic fight in Wuhan, Hubei province by more than 10 photographers and media photojournalists as well as photos by more than 30 photographers in Shenzhen of countless memorable moments when heroic deeds were accomplished at the grassroots level. We hope that through this exhibition, we can once again pay tribute to those heroes, relive China’s spirit of combating the COVID-19—priority on saving lives, nationwide solidarity and sacrifice, respect for science, and a sense of mission for humanity, and recommit ourselves to braving all difficulties and forging ahead on the new journey in the new era.

Curator: Zhao Qing