PULITZER Prize-winning photojournalist Liu Heung Shing has launched a new photo history that takes readers back the period before and after China's 1911 Revolution, which ended dynastic rule.

Liu is author of the acclaimed photographic documentation "China After Mao" and "Soviet Union: Collapse of an Empire." He won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News in 1992, while covering the demise of the Soviet Union.

The 1911 Revolution, which ended the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) is considered the beginning of China's modern revolution that led to establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

For his book "China in 1911: Road to Revolution," Liu searched archives and private collections around the world and selected more than 300 photographs covering the period between the 1850s and 1930s, before and after the revolution.

Many have never before been published. Liu did not use photographs of famous figures from the period and focused on daily life.

It is available throughout China in Chinese and English and an international version is available overseas.

Q: Why the 1911 Revolution?

A: After I finished my last book, "Shanghai: A History of Photographs: 1842-Today" – last year, my friends in Beijing said I should do something for Beijing as well. They suggested the 1911 Revolution, especially because it is the centenary of the revolution this year.

It was a big order. I was aware of the urgent deadline but I was also very attracted to the idea of putting myself back in the position of a reporter, as I did many years ago. I wanted to go out on a story with an open mind, with no outline or preoccupations, and just discover, report and learn about the facts as well as the new interpretation of Chinese history.

As I included in the Shanghai book, some of the younger generation of Chinese historians and scholars hold a new idea about the past, which is often simply called "a hundred years of humiliations," and they look more deeply into what imperialism brought to China during that period. Unlike the older generation of scholars, they do not whitewash or simply say that imperialism brought China nothing.

Q: How did you search for the photos?

A: I talked to many scholars and historians, such as Joseph W. Esherick and Max K.W. Huang, about that part of history, and identified important events in the period, such as the Wuchang Uprising, the Boxer Rebellion, the Second Opium War, among many more. Those are the chapters of the book and I went all around the world, to archives and private collections, to find photos to illustrate them.

I found very little in China. The Kuomintang archives were lost along the way as the government moved from Nanjing to Chongqing and last to Taiwan over the years.

Most of the photos of that time were taken by foreign travelers, diplomats, and reporters, so I found most of the collection abroad, in Japan, Australia, England, France, the United States, Germany, and many other countries.

Q: How did you restore the photos?

A: From thousands and thousands of photos, I brought back 900 and selected over 300 for the book. The originals were very old, so I often had to take a photo of the originals.

I spent over 1,000 hours with my research assistants to clean the dirt and scratches and restore the photos. We didn't alter anything, we just cleaned up.

Then, we toned the pictures to make them consistent in the same photo language, since different photographers used different exposures and language.

This is what I perceive as the attitude of treating history that is compatible with today's China. China has developed rapidly in recent years to world status, and people look at how we deal with our own history. The right attitude should be to treat it with seriousness and care, rather than just putting a bunch of prints together and calling that a photo history.

Q: What were your criteria for selecting photos?

A: I followed the chapters that I established after talking with many renowned historians, and then I tried to find daily life photos that accompanied and illustrated the chapters well. I managed to have even representation of different events and chapters through the pictures.

I deliberately stayed away from photos of famous officials or scholars from the time period, because I'm more interested in presenting the daily life of the time.

I had two criteria for choosing the pictures. They have to be aesthetically interesting and good photographs. Not all photos in that period are photographically well done. At the same time, the photos must also contain the information that can help build the narrative.

Q: What is your personal opinion of the 1911 Revolution?

A: After finishing the book, it only raises another question for me – What if?

What would it have been like if China had followed through on the constitutional reform at that time? Twenty-four provinces already had their own political consultative councils.

The country had a lot of wealthy businessmen and many scholars who were interested in high technologies from the West. And the Manchurian authorities also said they would have a Chinese parliament in nine years, though that fell through.

So what if it succeeded? Would it have been better or worse? I don't have an answer.

Q: Why the different cover photos for the Chinese and English-language editions?

A: First of all, I want the cover picture to be one with the subject staring at the readers, so the Manchurian child portrait on the English version and the officer's portrait on the Chinese version both have that effect. Through the stare, you achieve a communication across 100 years.

To Chinese readers, the portrait of the officer is appropriate because they perceive that period of history mainly through the revolution.

To international readers, the photo of the Manchu child is a door through which to look at the entire period, when China was making the greatest strides to modernization.