Sisters in Shanghai by Zhou Haiying Photo: Courtesy of National Art Museum

National Art Museum of China unveiled a new exhibition featuring the work of late photographer Zhou Haiying, son of Chinese literature giant Lu Xun, to mark what would have been the artist's 90th birthday. 

The Moments of Memory - Photo Exhibition to Commemorate Zhou Haiying's 90th Birthday is divided into five sections. 

The first section, Family Memory, looks back at life of Zhou through family photos. The following section, Shanghai Time, delves into local life in the city from the 1920s to 1940s; Dongbei Red Trip recalls Zhou's visit to liberated areas in Northeast China in 1948; Beijing Life collects photos taken after Zhou and his mother Xu Guangping settled down in Beijing in 1949; and Hometown: Shaoxing records Zhou's trip back to his hometown in East China's Zhejiang Province. 

According to the museum's curator Wu Weishan in the exhibition's preface, since almost the day he was born Zhou Haiying was closely connected to photography. 

Only 100 days after his birth, his father took him to be photographed at a famous photo studio in Shanghai. 

At the age of 10, he began to take photos of his own. At 14, he formally started to study photography, and afterwards never put his camera down again, becoming totally absorbed in the world of freeze frame, fixation and development.

Having lived through the Republic of China (1912-49) period, Zhou was particularly sensitive about the social environment and public discussion and loved capturing historical moments through his lens. 

He took photos not to "hunt for novelty," "but in the hopes of playing witness to the times," Wu wrote in the preface. 

The exhibition is set to run until March 17.