Barbey first came to China as a member of a French delegation led by Georges Pompidou who served as France's president from 1969 until his death in 1974. Accompanying the French delegation helped him to extend his visa and stay in China for two more weeks－which he regarded as "very lucky" since travel in the country was relatively restricted to Westerners at that time, Barbey tells China Daily.

Barbey returned to China in 1980, this time with his wife Caroline. They traveled extensively around the country, photographing and filming for more than five weeks in Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan province and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Before he came to China, Barbey's impression of the country was largely based on photos taken by his famed predecessors at the renowned international photography agency, Magnum Photos, such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa and Marc Riboud.

"Back in the 1970s and 1980s, most pictures of China were taken in black and white. Few of the great photographers from France came to China, and there was not much color photography work shot there in the 1970s," Barbey says.

Aided by Kodachrome film, Barbey's images captured the historic and colorful moments of a country on the move.