In 1948, when he had just founded the Magnum Photos agency with Robert Capa, David Seymour and George Rodger, Henri Cartier‑Bresson is in Beijing when the capital is about to be rallied by communist troops. A few months earlier, while he was in Indonesia, the famous Life Magazine asked him to go to China as soon as possible to cover the events. This assignement was to be a determining factor in his career as a photojournalist, which was only just beginning.

When the reportage – entitled “A last look at Peiping” – appeared on January 3, 1949, this photograph, taken in the “Forbidden City”, was selected for the front page of the publication.