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Factories dull? Not to these two photographers!
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MINHANG was once a manufactural center of Shanghai, home to major factories like the Shanghai Turbine Plant, Shanghai Electrical Machinery Plant, Shanghai Boiler Works Co and Shanghai Heavy Industry Plant. Amidst the turbines, a father and his daughter have recorded the history of the Shanghai Turbine Plant in photos. Feng Peishan, who retired in 1991, and his daughter Feng Peimin have been professional photographers of the factory, capturing working moments with their lenses. Shanghai Daily reporter Cao Yunyi listens to their stories.
The father
Born in 1931, Feng Peishan grew up with a passion for art. Since he couldn’t find anyone to teach him, he began by painting cigarette packets. As a young man, he found work at an advertising agency which was started by the British.
He still recalls the first camera he bought. It was made in the US.
“The camera was huge, so people call it ‘mini coffin,’” said Feng. “And it made loud noise when I pressed shutter. It was quite a shock at times.”
Feng seized the opportunity to work for the Shanghai Turbine Plant when he was 21 and the company was looking for graphic designers.
“They asked us to write calligraphy in oil paint,” he said. “My experience of advertising proved to be of great help. It was experience I gained when promoting movies. The factory managers were impressed, and I was hired on the spot.”
Words spread throughout the factory of his skills.
Feng could paint images of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Starlin and Chairman Mao as big as a bedsheet in just one night. He proved his value even more when he began capturing sights with his camera.
One commemorative scene in the history of the plant was the mounting of its nameplate board on the gate. In August 1953, the factory held its opening ceremony and paid a photographer to record the event.
“I noticed that the photographer was focusing his lens on staff, but neglecting the ceremony of actually mounting the board,” said Feng. “I felt that it wasn’t quite right. I happened to have brought along a German-made camera, so I squeezed out of the line and rushed to the gate to capture the moment.”
Managers of the factory had stressed the importance of staff staying in line that day. Feng’s bolt from the queue brought him a rebuke.
“A leader even said that I should receive a warning because I violated discipline,” said Feng. “I was pale and my heart beat like a drum. I was so nervous that I couldn’t think of words to defend myself.”
Fortunately, representatives from the army who were attending the event asked that Feng be spared since it was a day of celebration.
In this year’s 65th anniversary ceremony of the factory, his photo stands out as one of the most memorable capturing the company’s history.
Feng resumed painting after taking the shot, but shortly afterward, he was assigned to work as a factory photographer.
In 1958 and 1959, Liu Shaoqi, then chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, visited the Shanghai Turbine Plant twice. Feng was responsible for taking photos of the visits.
“It was my first time seeing someone so important,” he said. “I was thrilled. I figured out the routes he might walk and picked the best location.”
The photos he took were subsequently published in major magazines and won widespread favorable comment.
In his four decades working career as photographer, Feng has taken photos of He Long, Nie Rongzhen and Zhu De, all of them among the 10 marshals of the People’s Liberation Army, and also former President Jiang Zemin.
The day before former Czech president Viliam Široký visited Shanghai in 1957, Feng went to a hair salon so that he would look stylish and fashionable for the distinguished visitor.
Industrial photography was hard work because the themes are set against cold concrete and humdrum machinery. But during the economic transformation of China, industry was the bright star of new development, and Feng sought to humanize factory processes by focusing on workers.
“It was more than just machines and workers that I wanted to capture in photos,” he said. “One needs to really get the whole scenario into focus.”
Looking at factory scenes of monotonous wheels, cylinders and spindles units doing repetitive actions, Feng said his secret was to get closer.
He once got up at 2am to take photos of a steel mill. He stood so close to the hearth that sparks burned holes in his clothing.
In Feng’s photos, workers come across as interesting, multi-layered characters.
“Machines are the main subjects, but the soul of a factory is its humans,” he said. “I portray them with a glance, a hand gesture or a back view. By capturing one fleeting second, viewers can sense a worker’s whole essence.”
The daughter
Feng Peimin, his daughter, is also an experienced photographer. Her father laid the groundwork for her to take over his duties as factory photography when he retired .
“But he has taken all the good photos,” she said.
She inherited the spirit of catching essence by getting close up, but developed her own signature style.
Feng Peimin’s work “Meticulous” was entered in the Shanghai Industrial Photography Exhibition held at the Powerlong Art Museum.
“Workers were installing the last piece of a turbine rotor, and the intense looks on their faces touched me,” she said of the photo.
Beyond factory scenes, Feng Peimin is keen on family as a photographic subject. Her work “Mother’s Love” recorded the changes in her son’s family after a second baby arrived. The series of photos won first prize in the Shanghai Citizen Art Competition.
To the family’s great delight, Feng Peimin’s granddaughter has also developed an interest in photography. The six-year-old often imitates her elders by carrying around a camera. “Her composition and ideas are very special,” her grandmother said. “It seems this family has a gene for photography.”
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