"Lost China" A missionary's view from behind the camera lens

Milan (AsiaNews) At Milan's prestigious Royal Palace from Dec. 18 - Jan. 25, the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) will sponsor an exhibit of photographs taken by Fr. Leone Nani in early twentieth-century China.

The exhibit is part of PIME's "Chinese Paths" program, a series of cultural, religious and economic activities focusing on China and organized by its Missionary Center in Milan.

The "Lost China" photo exhibit will display images taken by the photographer-missionary between 1903 and 1914, an extraordinary photographic reportage by Fr. Nani in the heartland of mainland China in Southern Shaanxi.

It was here that that the missionary found himself at a crucial time in China's history, during the fall of the country's thousand-year old Empire in 1911 and the birth of its new Republic at the beginning of 1912.

Fr. Leone Nani di Albino (Bergamo, 1880 1935) departed for China at age 23. For 10 years he travelled all over Shaanxi (in the region's cities of Hanzhong and Xian in Central China) while evangelizing and organizing encounters between local cultures and the Christina faith, between Chinese and European traditions.

He was endowed with a tremendous curiosity about life and sense of humor, as immortalized in his images of uses, customs, landscapes, wealth, poverty, rites, and people of the period.

The unedited photographic heritage is an excellent example of artistic and technical quality and will be presented to the public for the first time.

During February-March 2004 the exhibit take can be seen at Bergamo's "Bernareggi" Diocesan Museum.

Fr. Leone Nani's "Lost China" photo exhibit:

18 December 2003 25 January 2004

Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace), Milan

Days and Times:

Tues-Wed-Fri-Sat-Sun: 9:00 18:00

Thurs: 9.30 22.00

(closed Monday)

Entrance: 5.00; 3.00 reduced

Info: 39-02-438201

Web site: http://www.pime.org/sentiericinesi