Shao Hua

Who was Shao Hua?

Shao Hua, formerly known as Zhang Shao Hua, born Chen Anyun, was a Chinese photographer and a major general in the People's Liberation Army. Shao was the daughter-in-law of the late Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong and the wife of Mao's second son, Mao Anqing, who had died in 2007.

Shao was born in October 1938 in Yan'an, Shaanxi province, a former base for Mao Zedong's Communist army following the Long March. Her father was Chen Zhenhua, who was from Shimin, Hunan. Her mother was Zhang Wenqiu, who was from Jingshan County, Hubei.

Shao began working as a photographer during the 1950s using a camera which had been brought to her from the Soviet Union by Mao Zedong's eldest son, Mao Anying. She traveled extensively throughout China following the Chinese Civil War. The subjects of her photographs were often related to the government of the Communist movement, including factories and other factors of production, army units, schools, and poor rural Chinese villages. She became the head of the China Photographers Association in 2002 and served in that position until her death in 2008.

Shao also served as a major general in the People's Liberation Army. She had also served as the director of the military encyclopedia department of the PLA Academy of Military Sciences. Shao was a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference from 1988 to 2002, when she began displaying her photographs publicly.