Family in the frame

Photo Provided to China Daily

When taking photos for 80-year-old Tao Mingsheng, whose family has 20 members across four generations, Lu used Photoshop to make the family complete.

"One of their family members could not leave his work on that day, so I asked them to leave a space for him when taking the photo. The next day, when he was free, I took a photo of him and put his image in the space on the family photo with the help of Photoshop," Lu says.

"This might not be a genuine family photo, but all of them were happy as all members were in the photo," he adds.

Lu regrets not getting a photo of a 96-year-old woman in the town's Zhong'an village. The family agreed to have a photo taken when the elderly woman recovered from an illness. But when Lu called three months later, she had passed away.

After taking photos of 12 families, Lu felt that "the key factor to gather all family members together was filial piety of the young for the old".

He was impressed by the family of 100-year-old Weng Caizhu. The family in Zhong'an village now has five generations with a total of 57 members.

"It was on March 26, Weng's 100th birthday. All the family members returned to their old house from all corners of the country and created a family photo together. The youngest was 1 year old."

The family took the photo in front of the brick house built in 1981. Weng had six children who used to live together in a straw house. Now, the fourth and fifth generations, who are all only children, live separately in new apartments.

Jin Xueyu, 52, Weng's grandson, was excited to capture the moment. "It was marvelous to have all 57 family members get together," he says. "Grandma is the core of the family that binds us together."