A man wearing glasses and a Ralph Lauren Polo shirt holding a camera, standing outdoors with city buildings and a sunset sky in the background.

BIOGRAPHY

Hans Xu (Xuehan Xu) was born in 1980 in Nanjing, a city rich in cultural and historical heritage in China. He grew up in an artistic family; his father is a renowned Chinese writer and screenwriter who has published poetry collections and written scripts for more than ten films, television dramas, and documentaries, widely recognized by TV audiences across China. Influenced by his family, Hans Xu developed a love for literature and writing from an early age, publishing articles in magazines continuously since the age of eight. At ten, he began professional painting training, and by thirteen, his artworks had been exhibited in China and Japan. At sixteen, he developed a passion for photography, and at eighteen, he was admitted with excellent grades to the Nanjing Normal University Academy of Fine Arts, which boasts a 120-year history and has been home to many prominent Chinese artists, including Xu Beihong, Fu Baoshi, Chen Zhifo, and Lü Sibai.

During his university years, Hans Xu published hundreds of photography works in various magazines, and his works began to be exhibited internationally. His black-and-white photography, in particular, has been highly recognized in both academic and artistic circles.

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2002, Hans Xu remained at Nanjing Normal University as an instructor due to his outstanding academic performance. While teaching, he pursued a master's degree in photography at the same institution. After completing his master’s degree in 2009, he moved to Sanjiang College’s School of Art in Nanjing to establish a photography program. In 2010, the program enrolled its first cohort of 40 undergraduate students. As the founder and associate professor of the photography program, Hans Xu was responsible for admissions, teaching, and management until 2023. Over these years, he trained nearly 500 photography undergraduates.

Outside academia, Hans Xu has remained dedicated to artistic creation in digital black-and-white documentary photography. From 2014 to 2019, he traveled to Europe seven times, each visit lasting nearly a month, exploring urban landscapes through the lens of a stranger with a familiar gaze. He photographed in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy, Austria, Croatia, the United Kingdom, and Spain. In 2018, he held a solo exhibition, Seize the Moment, at Menier Gallery in London, showcasing 45 selected works from the thousands he had taken over four years. That same year, his bilingual Chinese-English photography book, Seize the Moment: From Amsterdam to Dubrovnik, was published by the China National Photography Art Publishing House and launched in the UK. The book has been collected by the British Library, the National Art Library at the V&A, Tate Library, and Westminster Reference Library. It also won the Phoenix TV Outstanding Photography Book Award at the 18th Pingyao International Photography Festival in 2018.

In recent years, Hans Xu has published more than ten academic papers in professional journals and exhibited or sold numerous photographic works in China, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Austria, South Korea, and other locations. He is currently a member of the China Photographers Association, a council member of the Photography Education Committee of the China Higher Education Society, a member of the Photographic Society of America, and a consultant for the organizing committee of Photo Beijing.

In 2022, Hans Xu was approved for a U.S. EB-1A visa as a distinguished photography artist. In 2023, he immigrated to the United States with his wife, Grace Sun—who is also a university photography lecturer and curator—and their daughter. They now reside in Allen, Texas. HansPhotoX is a photography studio founded by Hans Xu in Texas in 2025. The studio is dedicated to providing a range of high-quality photography services to businesses and individuals in the DFW area. Additionally, it offers photography fundamentals education and photography appreciation courses for both young people and adults.

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  • Two men in a museum or gallery, standing at a glass display case, examining books and documents. In the background, framed black-and-white photographs are on the wall.
  • A man working on a printing project in a print shop, reviewing black and white photographs on large sheets of paper.
  • Two men standing indoors, holding a book together in front of a white wall with framed text. The man on the left is wearing glasses, a yellow jacket, striped shirt, and jeans. The man on the right is wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, with a red lanyard around his neck, smiling at the camera.
  • A man with glasses looking down at black and white photographs on a table, including images of a woman with wavy hair and an elderly man with a beard and mustache.
  • Six men standing on stage at the 10th China International Conference of Science and Education Producers, giving thumbs up, with a large blue digital screen behind them.
  • A man with glasses, a black hat, and a floral shirt standing on the deck of a boat, looking out at the water during sunset.
  • A man wearing glasses and a navy blue polo shirt holding a clear plastic bag with a small item inside, inspecting it closely.
  • A man with glasses and a woman with a scarf sit at a table, holding a notebook with handwritten text, inside a room with a doorway and window in the background.
  • Two men taking photos indoors, one in the foreground with glasses and a checked shirt, the other in the background with a camera, at an event in a decorated venue.
  • Two men sit at a table in a cozy restaurant, one signing a notebook while the other looks on.
  • Two men standing together, one older with glasses and a beige polo shirt, the other younger with glasses, dark hair, and a black jacket, posing inside a room with a wooden dresser and a window with blinds.
  • A man holding a camera standing on a bridge with historic buildings in the background, including a large tower with a clock, in a European town.
  • A shirtless man with short hair and glasses takes a photo with a camera overlooking a scenic European cityscape with orange rooftops, a river, and hills in the background.
  • Two men are standing outside on a cobblestone street, smiling and holding cameras. One man is wearing glasses, a dark jacket, and a cap. The other man is holding a folder or clipboard, and they are in front of historical buildings with leafless trees and a modern architectural structure behind them.
  • A man with glasses and dark hair stands in front of a bookshelf filled with various books. He is wearing a blue hoodie and gray pants, and is holding a book or notebook. The bookshelf has signs that say 'Photography' at the top.
  • Two men standing side by side in a newsroom or broadcast room with multiple computer stations and television screens. The background features a large red sign with the word 'COMMUNITY' and monitors displaying news segments. The men are dressed in casual attire, with one wearing glasses and the other with his hand in his pocket.
  • A man being interviewed by reporters in an art gallery, pointing at black and white photographs on the wall.
  • A woman taking a selfie with a man in the background holding a camera on a cobblestone street in a busy outdoor area, with buildings and other people in the background.