Hardships.[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The exhibition displays about 230 photos and documents, half of which were recently donated to the NAMOC by Wu's offspring.

Wu cultivated his interest in photography when studying oil painting at the Shanghai Fine Art School established by artist Liu Haisu. Later when he taught at a primary school, he kept taking photos that show landscape and the hardships of common people.

He moved to Shanghai in the late 1920s and worked as photographer at film companies. His talent was recognized. He held photo exhibitions and took part in several films.