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32 Rare Photos Depicting Real Life of Chinese People in the 80s

Last Updated on 2023/04/29

Chinese People In The 1980s: An album of selected images depicts a vision of China in the 1980s, very different from today.

China was more ideological, and poor but apparently also more naive and genuine.

In the 80s China was experiencing a period of transition: the tragedies of the Cultural Revolution, the Gang of Four who plagued the country, the death of Mao, the economic and social reforms of Deng Xiaoping.

At the same time, in this decade, Beijing began slowly to open the country.

The directors of the fifth generation like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige emerged, but at that time they depicted the recent past rather than the present, which instead will be told later by the Sixth generation directors like Jia Zhangke in Zhantai (Platform).

Illegal pop music cassettes from Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Japan started to pop up around the country, influencing the young generations.

Related article: The Evolution Of Chinese Culture In The 1980s

Images of China in the 1980s

Chinese old woman
black and white tv sets in China
At that time, black and white tv sets were rare in China.
Chinese seamstresses
Chinese seamstresses, like many other workers encouraged by Deng Xiaoping, worked the street.
The ice vendor
The ice vendor.
Chinese soldiers
Chinese soldiers writing love letters to their girlfriends or family.
meat every day
At the time, people didn’t eat meat every day. The meat was reserved for special occasions.
collective works
At that time, each family was asked to send people for collective works.
The four modernizations of China
The four modernizations of China (agricultural modernization, national defense, science, and technology).
going home
Going home …
Chinese old men chatting
Old men chatting
Chinese kid
Pens in the pocket
Pens in the pocket were taken into great account during the eighties.
The Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China.
Chinese tourists
One of the first Chinese tourist groups.
Chinese kid
Unlike today, clothes were shared and reused by all the sons.
Chinese policeman
A Chinese policeman.
Chinese bus
Instead of buses and taxis, people often used trucks, loaded to bursting, before departure.
A seller of traditional Chinese medicine
A seller of traditional Chinese medicine
Chinese barber
Chinese barber. At the time, and even now in some remote places, barbers worked on the streets.
Chinese kids reading books
Chinese kids reading books in front of a shop.
Chinese sweater
Sweaters were pretty popular at the time.
revival of qigong
The revival of qigong: in this period, thousand of qigong schools and academies begin to proliferate. In the picture, some Chinese old people performing unlikely exercises of qigong in a park.

Related: The revival of Qigong , Chinese people with superpowers!

Chinese stylish girl
A stylish girl admired by neighbors.

via 32 splendide foto che rivelano la vita vera dei cinesi negli anni ’80 source tieba.baidu

Topic: Chinese people in the 1980s,Chinese people images, 1980s China,photos of China in 1980,images of China,recent history of China

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