chinas leap

BEIJING—A unit of the People's Militia waits its turn at the daily morning drill. In the background, Tien An Men Palace, where the country's leaders stand to review patriotic parades, 1958

All Photos © Henri Cartier-Bresson

SHEN-YANG, China—Workers in the industrial center are urged to produce "still bigger, still better, more quickly, more frugally," 1958.

CHONGQING, China—On the docks, men unload barges by hand; mechanized equipment had not yet been installed. Several citizens wrote letters of protest when Henri Cartier-Bresson took this

picture, claiming that his action was an insult to the Chinese people, 1958

CHINA—The Great Wall, 1958

CHINA—A unit going to work in the fields, 1958

YUMEN, China—Whatever the city, whatever the region, the sound of drums and cymbals announces a workers’ delegation marching to administration headquarters to tell of a new

high in their production, 1958

SIAN, China—As an after-school project, youngsters pave the sidewalks of their neighborhood under the supervision of their mothers, 1958

CHENGDU, China— A male nurse disinfects all who enter the city in an effort to halt an epidemic. Fearful of their well-known "facility to catch cold," the Chinese use draconian

methods to combat it, 1958

CHINA—Schoolboys rest after their daily drill. Sons of peasants, they form a militia trained in the handling of guns, hand grenades, and weapons dropped from planes. On the wall is the slogan

"Everybody loves to work," 1958

SHEN-YANG, China—Work-study programs are an integral part of Chinese university life. Here, an engineering student works a lathe, 1958

CHINA—Peasants were encouraged to construct their own smelting ovens. Every half-hour these ovens smelted about 100 pounds of iron used to make farm tools. Such labor was done

after the normal workday spent in the fields or rice paddies, 1958.

URUMCHI, China—Sinkiang Province, 1958.

TURFAN, China—A mother lays her child down for a nap. A Muslim and one of the national minorities, she works in the vineyards of a newly formed commune, 1958

SHANGHAI, China—1958

BEIJING—The extermination of China's four scourges—flies, mosquitoes, rats, and sparrows—is the theme of this exhibit, illustrated by a rat made from real rat skin, 1958

BEIJING—An exhibition on bridges and railroad systems, in the Chinese Culture Park, as an example of progress made since the Communist takeover, 1958.