Dabei, a time-honored photography studio in Beijing, has seen business peak during the Lunar New Year holiday, as families come to take group portraits to record and mark the joy of coming together as a family.

Taking a photo is no longer a special occasion – modern “selfie culture” sees people taking snaps of themselves and each other wherever and whenever they want. However, getting a photo taken used to be a big event for Chinese people, especially when they had the chance to get together as one big group in front of the camera lens.

Before photography became popular in China, it was a rare and big occasion for a family to head to a studio for a group portrait. Most of the black and white family pictures that today act as mirrors to the past were set up in the same way: the most senior family members sit in the middle, sitting straight with solemn, serious faces to highlight their status. The younger generation of adults typically stands respectfully behind them, while grandchildren sit in the foreground on the floor, and infants are carried or sit on a grandparents’ lap. It would take hours for the photographer to arrange his subjects for a satisfying scene, and it would take even longer to make the memory a more colorful one: skilled photographers often colored the photograph with dyes, before signing the date and occasion.

Decades later when cameras became more affordable for average families, taking a family portrait became a much easier and more fun and creative process. Many families would invite a neighbor or friend to help out, or even let an enthusiastic youngster take responsibility for mastering this new kind of technology. The quality of the pictures improved with more stable cameras, and the advent of timer settings allowed the photographer valuable seconds to rush into the frame and join the rest of the family with a big smile.

In the latter half of the 20th century, photography had evolved into a profession. The art of taking the perfect family photo became more refined – a nice, sunny day would be chosen for the family portrait, while the subjects spent hours preparing their hair, makeup and clothing. Every detail would be considered, as families cherished the value of creating a memorable portrait they could keep forever. 

Today, the development of digital photography and cameras on mobile phones have made us all amateur photographers, with the art of portrait taking reduced to using a selfie stick. But the sense of occasion of taking a family portrait, a tradition passed down to us through the ages, has inspired some to revive this old custom. Some families go really retro, even wearing 1980s-style clothing to give their family photo a memorable sense of nostalgia.