Near the Forbidden City, a person whose job it is to escort brides in a sedan chair, Beijing, December 1948 Henri Cartier-Bresson travelled to China in November 1948, intending to stay for two weeks for a Life magazine assignment to report on the ‘last days of Beijing’. He stayed 10 months, leaving only a few days before the proclamation of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949. All photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson/Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson. Please note: the captions of the photographs are those written by Cartier-Bresson