1991, China's main cities Shanghai (pictured here) and Beijing were bicycle kingdoms. Since then, however, the car has become an increasingly popular mode of transport, putting mounting pressure on public traffic and air quality. [Wang Wenlan]

"I sincerely hope this revealing exhibition may open a new discussion among Chinese about how our country has come to be where it is today," says Xiao Zhuang, a 74-year-old photographer from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, who has several photos on display.

Xiao is compiling a book that aims to "tell the moving stories of ordinary Chinese" behind old photos she has taken in various provinces from the 1950s to 1980s.

"The photos show how China has developed so dramatically," says 72-year-old Weng Naiqiang, whose color photo depicting Mao greeting millions of Red Guards at Tian'anmen Rostrum in the 1960s fetched more than 30,000 yuan ($4,412) at an auction in 2005.

The Beijing-based photographer says: "I am so happy that young photographers today enjoy much more freedom in what to shoot and how to shoot as Chinese people's mindset has become more open and tolerant."

But Weng insists that a "photo's primary function is to record reality" and this should not be forgotten while most young photographers take photography as an art form.

Liu says he is trying to "offer viewers an insight into the country's physical, emotional and spiritual infrastructures".

The exhibition will tour the world next year, the 60th anniversary of New China.