Chen Lanxie, 49, never expected she would ever see how her mother looked like 60 years ago.

"I couldn't help shedding tears when I saw her, so young," Chen said at a recent photo exhibition entitled "Kunming in Colour in 1944," at the Yunnan Museum in the capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province.

It was one of Chen's old neighbours who recognized her mother.

"My mother was born in 1912 and passed away 12 years ago," said Chen. "She left nothing recording her early years, because times were hard and her family could not afford the luxury of a camera."

As soon as she walked out of the museum Chen contacted her five brothers and sisters in the city. The five agreed to go to see their mum on the weekend.

Early on the morning of May 16, they gathered at the museum.

"It's me," cried Chen's elder brother Chen Miaozhang, pointing at the baby boy on his mother's back. "I had just been born," the 60-year-old man said. He asked one of his sisters to stand in front of the picture -- and was thrilled to see that she looked exactly the same as their mother in her youth.

They bubbled with excitement in front of the picture, sharing their joy with other visitors.

Among the visitors to the museum that day, 78-year-old Wu Guizhen was also overjoyed, almost falling to the floor when she recognized her father who had died 55 years ago.

The Chen family and Wu are not the only people in the city thrilled by the exhibition.

From May 9 to 20, over 200,000 people visited the show, according to statistics from the museum. They were there to see if they could spot old relatives, their old homes and communities.

"It was a treasure given to us by an American," one visitor wrote in the guest book. "It was really wonderful for Kunming people to be able to see their forefathers and the old city in color pictures from 60 years ago," he noted.

The old pictures also inspired Gregg Millett who brought them to the city.

"I had never imagined that what my father did 60 years ago could bring such exhilaration to the people of Kunming," Millett said.

The pictures were taken by Doctor Cliton Millett, Gregg's father, in 1944, when he was a lieutenant and served as the deputy director of the No 172 hospital of the US army in China.

The hospital was situated by scenic Dianchi Lake. Dr Millett was very impressed by the city of Kunming, including its beautiful landscape, mild climate and, in particular, its people who were very poor but sincere and kind-hearted.

He wrote to his family: "The weather is so good, it might be the best of all in the world... And the landscape here is also the best I've ever seen... I hope to bring you all here."

Millett who loved photography made up his mind to record the people and life of Kunming with his color Kodak film, so he could share the beauty with his family. It was only two years earlier that Kodak color film had been invented.

At the end of the World War II (1939-45), Millett went home to the United States. He always dreamed of going back to Kunming, but he died in 1964, never having had the chance to return to his wartime base.

"Before he died, my father asked me to take the old pictures back to Kunming," said Gregg Millett, in his 70s. "He also asked me to capture something new about the city today."

Last month, with the help of Jin Feibao, a manager from Kunming Adventure Travel Service, Gregg Millett and his granddaughter brought 144 old color photos back to the city.

"Over the past decades the people in these old pictures have become part of our family," said Gregg Millett, who went to the show every day with his granddaughter. They shared their enthusiasm with the local people. They visited the descendants of the people in the pictures and captured more pictures of their lives today.

"I'm going to do something to bind the friendship between American and Chinese people," said Millett.

(China Daily May 27, 2004)