Halls of infamy reveal a gallery of ghosts from the political past

They look hauntingly empty yet strangely full of life. These assembly halls, scattered all over the mainland, used to be where ordinary people were 'put on trial' during the Cultural Revolution. They are also venues that have inspired a husband-and-wife photographic team to trek across the country, documenting their personal experiences of the period - and a big chapter in China's history - before these places vanish forever.

Shao Yinong and his wife Muchen came up with the idea of photographing these halls by chance. During her first pregnancy in the late 1990s, the couple wanted to compile a series of scrolls showing nearly 200 of their family members.

'When we were shooting Family Register, we went back to our home towns,' says Shao. 'My grandfather used to have a dim sum shop, but when I went there, it was gone and there was this assembly hall in its place. Our idea for Assembly Halls originated from this. And we began to find similar halls, but the contradiction was enormous: all those places that used to be so lively are now mostly abandoned.'

Their works are being shown at 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, whose owner Katie de Tilly says she first saw the photography series at the 2004 Shanghai Biennale. 'This is the first time they have shown in Hong Kong,' she says.

'The whole process behind Assembly Halls was a journey for them. They had no idea where it would take them. They may go to a city in China and not find anything there worth recording.'

The Shaos began working together one year after meeting in 1994 when she interviewed him: he was a painter and she was a photojournalist. Since they decided to concentrate on photography in 2000, the couple's work has been exhibited internationally, including at the 2005 Rome International Photography Festival and the Grace Alexander Contemporary Art Gallery in Zurich.