These two volumes presents the most comprehensive collection to date of the photographic and written legacy of Zhuang Xueben, a pioneering figure in twentieth-century Chinese ethnography and documentary photography. It brings together more than 3,000 photographs produced during Zhuang’s field expeditions from 1934 through the 1950s alongside his complete travel diaries and a carefully selected body of field reports, travel notes, and related writings. Organized thematically and in chronological sequence, the book places photographs at the center of each section, complemented by contemporaneous texts that illuminate the circumstances, intentions, and observations behind the imagZhuang’s expeditions trace an extraordinary cultural landscape across what is now western China at a moment of profound historical change. His most sustained work was conducted in the rugged Tibetan–Yi Corridor of Sichuan Province, where he lived among the Qiang, Jiarong Tibetans, and Khampa Tibetans, documenting their social organization, material culture, and religious life. His journey into the isolated Liangshan region yielded the earliest sustained photographic record of Yi society from an external perspective, revealing a world shaped by mountainous terrain and long-standing cultural autonomy. Beyond Sichuan, Zhuang traveled extensively across the Amdo Tibetan regions of present-day Gansu and Qinghai, recording monastic life at Labrang Monastery and the traditions of the Tu and Salar peoples. His later work around Lugu Lake in northwestern Yunnan produced some of the earliest systematic visual documentation of the Mosuo and their matrilineal social structure.

More than a record of place, Zhuang’s work embodies a deeply humanistic approach to ethnography. He lived for extended periods within the communities he photographed, earning trust and forging personal connections that allowed him to move beyond the distant or exoticizing gaze typical of his era. His images encompass both ceremonial life and everyday experience—labor, family, belief, and belonging—preserving a fleeting historical moment. Together, these photographs and writings form an invaluable archive and a lasting testament to the dignity and diversity of the people he encountered.

Fully illustrated in black & white photos, text in Chinese.

2009, Beijing, Zhong Hua Shu Ju Publishing House, softcover, in a very good condition.