On a Monday in late October, a photo exhibition called Changing Asia opened in Shenzhen, a city preparing to host the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum next month. Gathered under the theme of smiles and hands reaching across the region, the show asks what people share when diplomacy has not yet begun its formal work. Its images of gestures and faces, drawn from photographers across many nations, suggest that a common future is first noticed in ordinary moments, long before it is negotiated in official rooms.
Changing Asia Photo Exhibition Opens in Shenzhen Ahead of APEC Leaders' Meeting
97 works, 54 photographers, 17 countries and regions, one theme: smiles and hands
Mark
Why does a photo show matter ahead of a leaders' meeting?
Mimi
It's framed as part of APEC's "China Year," a cultural companion to the formal talks. Bill Condon called it a chance for dialogue outside the formal meetings.
Mark
How selective was it?
Mimi
More than 2,200 entries from 330 photographers, and 97 works by 54 photographers from 17 countries and regions were chosen.
Luke
Worth noting those are organiser figures. We don't know the selection criteria beyond the word "rigorous."
Mark
What did the photographers say about the theme?
Mimi
Emanuele Giacomini said he looks for spontaneous gestures and emotions that cross cultural and religious differences. His Maha Kumbh Mela images are in the show.
Luke
That's one photographer describing his own approach. It doesn't tell us how the whole exhibition reads.
Mark
And visitors?
Mimi
Nay Min Thu, a Myanmar student in Thailand, singled out Shirkoo Mamagha's images of nomadic communities in Iran.
Luke
One visitor's reaction. The reporting gives no attendance figures, so we can't say how wide the response is.
Mark
What's the through line?
Mimi
Smiles and hands, people connecting. Officials say it shows growing mutual understanding, though that's their reading, not something the photos prove.
Der Puls
- A major regional summit is weeks away, and Shenzhen is quietly rehearsing its role as host with a camera instead of a communiqué.
- Over 2,200 entries from 330 photographers were winnowed to 97 images, and the selection process is presented as rigorous.
- Officials frame the show as a soft-power bridge, using the language of inclusive prosperity to carry cultural exchange into the APEC calendar.
- The exhibition is running only through Friday at the CUHK Shenzhen Research Institute, and its trajectory is a short run that has already traveled from Bangkok to Jakarta to online.
On a Monday in late October, a photo exhibition called Changing Asia opened in Shenzhen, a city preparing to host the leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum next month. Gathered under the theme of smiles and hands reaching across the region, the show asks what people share when diplomacy has not yet begun its formal work. Its images of gestures and faces, drawn from photographers across many nations, suggest that a common future is first noticed in ordinary moments, long before it is negotiated in official rooms.
A photo exhibition called Changing Asia opened in Shenzhen on Monday, just ahead of the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting that the city will host next month. Co-organised by China Daily and the Asia News Network, the show carries the theme "Moments of Connection: Smiles and Hands Across Asia-Pacific" and runs through Friday at the Shenzhen Research Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The exhibition has traveled before. It began in Bangkok in 2022, moved to Jakarta in 2023, and went online in 2024, drawing photographers from more than 40 countries and regions along the way. This year's call brought over 2,200 entries from 330 photographers, and 97 works by 54 photographers from 17 countries and regions were chosen.
Among the selected is Italian documentary photographer Emanuele Giacomini, whose images from the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India, capture spontaneous human connection across cultural and religious lines. At the opening, officials and advisers described the show as a form of soft power that lets culture speak where formal meetings cannot. A visitor, Myanmar student Nay Min Thu, was moved most by the stories behind the pictures, especially the images of nomadic life in Iran, and took away the lesson that photographs should carry stories.
A photo exhibition on cultural and people-to-people exchange across Asia opened in Shenzhen on Monday, just ahead of the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, which the southern Chinese city hosts next month. Titled Changing Asia, it runs through Friday at the Shenzhen Research Institute of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
The show is co-organised by China Daily and the Asia News Network, and its theme is "Moments of Connection: Smiles and Hands Across Asia-Pacific." The pictures are meant to capture the faces and gestures of people across the region, and to suggest a shared future of inclusive prosperity.
Liu Weiling, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, called the exhibition an important cultural exchange event during APEC's "China Year." She said it fits this year's APEC theme, "Building an Asia-Pacific Community to Prosper Together." The organisers hope to use the camera lens to record warm moments of people working side by side and civilizations drawing closer, she said.
Warner Cheuk Wing-hing, Hong Kong's deputy chief secretary for administration, spoke at the opening. He said the photographs document the region's cultural landscape and development stories without needing words. In his view, the exhibition reflects the core spirit of this year's APEC and shows growing mutual understanding in the region, along with achievements in inclusive, shared development.
The exhibition has a short history. It debuted in Bangkok in 2022, before the 29th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, then moved to Jakarta in 2023 and went online in 2024. Across those editions it has drawn photographers from more than 40 countries and regions.
This year's call produced more than 2,200 entries from 330 photographers worldwide. After a selection process the organisers described as rigorous, 97 works by 54 photographers from 17 countries and regions were chosen for display.
One of them is Emanuele Giacomini, a documentary photographer based in Italy. His set of images from the 2025 Maha Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India, made the cut. UNESCO inscribed that festival on its Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2017. Giacomini told China Daily that photography can bring seemingly distant worlds closer, creating a silent dialogue between the people pictured and those looking at them. He said the theme matches his own approach: looking for human connection, spontaneous gestures and emotions that cross cultural and religious lines.
Bill Condon, an adviser to the think tank Our Hong Kong Foundation, praised the quality and diversity of the work at the launch. He said it matters to use the soft power of culture and art, and that the Asian focus makes the show more relevant and opens a chance for dialogue outside formal meetings.
Among the visitors was Nay Min Thu, a Myanmar student at Prince of Songkla University in Thailand and an amateur photographer. He said he was struck by the stories behind the pictures, especially Shirkoo Mamagha's images of peaceful moments among nomadic communities in Iran. The lesson he took away, he said, was that photographs should carry stories.
The exhibition closes Friday, and Shenzhen's hosting of the APEC leaders' meeting follows next month.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Photography can bring seemingly distant worlds closer together, creating a silent dialogue between the people portrayed and those viewing the images.— Emanuele Giacomini, documentary photographer, to China Daily
The exhibition's Asian focus creates an opportunity for dialogue outside the formal meetings.— Bill Condon, adviser, Our Hong Kong Foundation
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