Missionary Lens Captures China’s First Color Documentary Amidst the Civil War
The footage, known today as “Color Old Ankang (1947),” is regarded as the first color documentary filmed in China. Shot by Norwegian missionary Carl Mortensen using a Kodak 16mm camera, the film offers a rare and vibrant window into the daily lives, religious activities, and social customs of Ankang just two years before the founding of the People’s Republic of China.


























































