Old Road, New Connections: Liu Heung Shing's Journey through Belt and Road

Over the course of multiple assignments across continents and the shifting geopolitical landscape of the 20th century, Liu Heung Shing photographed two of its seminal historic events: the rise of China through unprecedented economic reforms; and, the collapse of the Soviet Union under Mikhail Gorbachev. For these achievements, Liu was recognized by the Associated Press as Best Photographer in 1988 and 1989. He also received Photo of the Year award from University of Missouri in 1989. He shared with his colleagues in Moscow, a Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography for documenting the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992 and the Overseas Press Club Award in 1992. 

Liu’s photographs of China are widely recognized by the Chinese public as capturing an era of change that is unique in preserving native sensibilities combined with an independent point of view. He was the first Time magazine photojournalist posted in Beijing since 1978, He later worked as chief photographer for the Associated Press in Beijing, Los Angeles, New Delhi, Seoul and Moscow. 

Liu is the author of China After Mao (1983 Penguin), China, Portrait of a Country (2008 Taschen), 1911: The Road to Revolution, (Hong Kong University Press), and co-author of Shanghai, Portrait of a City (Penguin Viking). A Life in a Sea of Red (2018 Steidl, Germany).

He was invited three consecutive years to serve as a jury member of Rhode Scholarship, (China) His works are collected by museums in the US. M+ in Hong Kong has the largest collections of his photographic works. 

Liu’s solo exhibition, Liu Heung Shing, Lens, Time and People, opened in Pudong Museum of Arts in 2023 Shanghai and it as toured to Shenzhen 2025 and Guangzhou 2026.His works have been exhibted in Coalmine Museum, Zurich,  St. Moritz, Maison de Chine, Paris.

Carolyn Yim is an A21 fellow at Asia Society, with a focus on arts and culture. She has a BA from Columbia, and an MA from the Courtauld on Chinese art and geopolitics. She just started writing the “Designed in China” Substack to trace China’s evolving soft power.