Recording history

Of the 700-odd officially published photo portraits of late Chairman Mao Zedong before he died in 1976, more than 400 were taken by Hou Bo, who passed away recently

Hou Bo, born in 1924, is a Chinese photographer who was among the best known photographers of Mao Zedong. She died in Beijing at 10 pm on Nov 26 at the age of 93.

Born into a poor peasant family, Hou joined the Communist Party of China at the age of 14 and learned photography during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) in order to present a better image of the Party's work to the world.