HONG KONG, Dec. 10, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- A photo exhibition that captures the changes in Asian people's daily lives under the COVID-19 pandemic and encourages people to move forward opened in Hong Kong on Friday.

Co-organized by China Daily and the Asia News Network, the Changing Asia – New Normal photography exhibition runs through Dec 11.

The photos document what life was like across Asia, in times of lockdowns, vaccinations, and quarantine. They also record how the public health crisis affected the region's culture and heritage, the way people lived and learned, and how international events were shaped.

Prominent figures, including consulate general officials of eight countries, think tank leaders, senior commentators, heads of art and cultural institutions, attended the opening ceremony of the exhibition on Friday.

Zhou Li, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily Group and publisher and editor-in-chief of China Daily Asia Pacific, said at the ceremony that the pandemic has demonstrated the reality that human beings are bound together in good and bad times alike.

It also pointed the need to build a community with a shared future, which was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping nine years ago and has been a guiding principle for China's participation in international governance, he said.

Md Marzuk Islam, vice consul of the People's Republic of Bangladesh in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, said he was amazed by the exhibition.

He said the photos carry a message that human beings can remember the past and learn from it.

In the future, he hopes that global communities can unite and support each other to make the world a better place.

Ana Dubraska Garcia, consul general of Venezuela in the HKSAR, said China Daily offers a good opportunity for more people to appreciate these valuable pictures, and said she hopes that Venezuela can continue maintaining a good relationship with China in future collaborations.

Earlier, the organizers invited professional photographers from Asia to submit photos taken in the past three years under the theme "Changing Asia – New Normal". The project initially received more than 1,000 photos from 179 photographers.

A total of 78 photos were selected for the exhibition from 18 countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Palestine, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea, Thailand, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.

This exhibition was held in Bangkok, Thailand from Nov 16-20, coinciding with the city's hosting of the leaders' meeting of the 2022 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.