Focus on change

An award-winning photographer has released a book that documents the extraordinary changes that have taken place in the country over the past 30 years. Sun Ye takes you through the pages.

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"They (dogs) were kicked around and called brutal beasts 30 years ago. Now, they ride in BMWs and are beloved pets," says Liu Weibing, a Xinhua News Agency photographer.

The treatment of dogs is just one of the social changes Liu has examined in his newly released documentary book, Stories of China's Reforms - A Photographer's Personal Experiences published by Foreign Languages Press.

It started out as a simple retrospective project for the award-winning photographer. But while putting pictures and captions together, Liu noticed a major and inescapable theme.

"It was so clear. The theme was change," the 46-year-old member of the Chinese Writers' Association says.

Liu used 230 photos to tell a vivid story of the reform and opening-up policy that started in 1979, which brought the country astronomical wealth as well as unexpected problems.

The Tonghuihe area was once a playground for children. It became polluted and putrid in the early 1990s, before undergoing rejuvenation. It is now "fit for wedding ceremonies".

One photographer waited four hours to see four cars drive down the newly built Jianguomen bypass in 1979. Now, there are constant traffic jams.

Beijing locals used to survive on limited ration coupons and winter cabbages stocked in basements. Now, people are presented with overflowing goods in department stores.