In the winter of 1940, during a battle between the Communist Party of China's Eighth Route Army and the Japanese army in Beiyu District, Shanxi Province, China, Sha Fei, the first military photographer for the Communist Party of China, took a series of photographs of Eighth Route Army soldiers collapsing after being hit by bullets.

 

　　In the winter of 1940, during a battle between the Chinese Communist Party's Eighth Route Army and the Japanese army in Beiyu District, Shanxi Province, China, Sha Fei, the first military photographer for the Chinese Communist Party, took a series of photographs of Eighth Route Army soldiers collapsing after being hit by bullets. A Chinese Communist Party Eighth Route Army soldier collapses with his knees bent after being hit by a Japanese bullet.

　The Eighth Route Army, which had been fighting in the mountainous regions in limited guerrilla warfare, launched a major offensive against the Japanese Army in the Hundred Regiments Offensive, which took place in Hebei and Shanxi provinces from August to December 1940. The Eighth Route Army was short of heavy weapons, and the use of human-wave tactics resulted in around 20,000 casualties. The Japanese army countered with a sweeping campaign, and from mid-October to the end of November, they stepped up their counterattack against the Eighth Route Army. During this battle, Sha Fei captured the moment of Robert Capa's “Falling Soldier”, and was called the “Chinese Robert Capa”.

　Sha Fei, the first war photographer for the Chinese Communist Party, photographed anti-Japanese activities in the Jin-Chahar-Ji military district and the border region of China. He presented his photographs to the Chinese Communist Party in accordance with the guidance of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1926, he participated in the Northern Expedition as a communications soldier. In September 1936, at the age of 24, Sha Fei entered the Shanghai Art School and photographed port workers and the life of the working class in Shanghai. In September 1937, Sha Fei became a photographer for the National Communications Agency and covered the Eighth Route Army, becoming a member of the army. Sha Fei saw photography as a powerful weapon for exposing reality, and he always used it to depict the various realities of society.

　　In December 1937, Sha Fei was given permission by General Nie Rongzhen to join the Eighth Route Army, and was appointed as the first chief editor of the editorial department of the Political Department of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region. He also served as deputy director of the Anti-Japanese News, and in 1941 he established the Jin-Cha-Ji Pictorial Press, which published the first pictorial magazine of the Chinese Communist Party, the Jin-Cha-Ji Pictorial, on July 7th 1942. In June 1947, Sha Fei submitted an application to join the Communist Party, and on November 22 he became a member. In December 1948, he was hospitalized at the Shijiazhuang Peace Hospital with pulmonary tuberculosis, and on December 15, 1949, Sha Fei shot and killed his doctor, the Japanese doctor Katsutoshi Tsuhei. In On February 24th 1950, the Political Department of the North China Military Region's Military Court sentenced Sha Fei to death and at the same time he was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party. On March 4th, Sha Fei was executed by firing squad. In 1986, he was reinstated as a member of the Communist Party.