Sha Fei (; May 5, 1912 – March 4, 1950) was a Chinese photojournalist and war photographer best known for his work with the Chinese Communist Party during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45). Born Situ Chuan (司徒传), he took the pseudonym Sha Fei (flying sand), that is, a grain of sand in the sky of his country. He has been called "one of the most admired Leftist photographers in China during the wartime years of 1937–1949", and "one of the most influential photographers of his generation". His "warm, dramatic, and ideologically-charged photographic presentations were emulated for decades thereafter". Early years Situ Chuan (Sha Fei) was born in 1912 in Guangzhou (Canton), Guangdong Province. His father, Situ Junxun (司徒俊勋), was a small business owner. Sha Fei felt he needed to learn a trade to support his family when his father's business went under in 1926, and studied at a radio school. In July 1926 he enlisted in the National Revolutionary Army and joined the Northern Expedition as a telegraph operator. He worked at a radio station in Shantou from 1932 to 1936, and became interested in photography, preferring a style more realistic than the international style he saw in magazines. In June 1935, he joined the Shanghai-based Black and White Photographic Society (). In 1936, he decided to become a professional photographer and quit his job in Shantou. He went to Shanghai, and in the fall entered the Department of Western Painting of the Shanghai Fine Arts Academy. He became well known for his photographs of blind beggars, poverty stricken children, and emaciated peasants. Shanghai was the base of most modern Chinese artists at the time, and he had the opportunities to meet famous people in the cultural circles such as Lu Xun. On 8 October 1936, he took the most famous photograph of Lu Xun's late life at the Second National Woodcut Exhibition. When Lu died 11 days later, he took some of Lu's last photos. These photos, as well as ones taken during Lu's funeral, were widely published in many magazines, including Liangyou (The Young Companion) and Shidai, establishing his reputation as a photojournalist. Sha Fei's photo was later the template for the cover art on Lu Xun's collected works. Wartime activities Soon after his Lu Xun images earned him national fame, the Second Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937 and Sha Fei joined the Communist resistance in northern