They : Zhang Xiao

Zhang Xiao is a Chinese photographer who has published several series of photographs of China in flux.

China – 

In China, every year hundreds of millions of people find work in other places. Like them I am also a drifter in a land not my own. They come from everywhere, North to South, East to West. People often lose their way during this process, losing the feeling of a real home. Lacking a sense of belonging, perhaps this is a symptom of being Chinese during this time.

However the greatness of mankind derives from thought.

Them, the citizens, the worker… Each one of them has their own ordinary life, working 9 to 5, taking vacations, feeding their kids… They’ve been watching their homeland undergo a great change in the last 30 years. Now they have to face the old traditions and customs and the effects on their lifestyles’ of the rapid development of the economy. No matter good or not there’s a struggle in their hearts between the old traditions and culture, and their life will not like before any more.

 

 

Life is tough. As Chinese economy is rocking through the roof, people start suffering from high level of stress and anxiety about possible job losses. In the never land, people would not be suffering until they got brought back to the reality. I would be happy to live with them in the never land, but not every story has a happy ending. People in the photos illustrate the breaking up of the modern Chinese social development and picture our reflection.

 

Written and photography by Zhang Xiao

Related Posts

Tom Hunter: Life on the Road

United Kingdom –  Life on the Road captures a remarkable moment in time, in the 1990s, when young people travelled ...

Douglas Stockdale on W. Eugene Smith’s The Big Book

USA – W. Eugene Smith’s The Big Book is a very interesting and unusual three volume set that includes a ...

John Vink: ‘The photographer is not a hero’

Cambodia- Based out of Cambodia for the past 13 years, Belgium born photojournalist John Vink, member of the prestigious Magnum ...

Douglas Stockdale on Laura Braun “Metier-Small Businesses in London”

England –  The recent book published by Laura Braun, Metier, investigates the Small Business in London, a region where Braun ...

Emeric Lhuisset: Hundred Portraits of Demonstrators from Maydan Square in Ukraine

Ukraine –  On Maydan Square in Kiev, French photographer Émeric Lhuisset (b. 1983) created a compelling series of portraits of ...

Rafal Milach: The Winners

Belarus –  ‘The Winners’ published by GOST, is dedicated to winners of various state and local competitions held between 2010-2013 ...

Asim Rafiqui : Bagram – The Other Guantanamo

Pakistan – They are ghosts, and I have spent nearly two months trying to find any evidence of them. They ...

Julia Borissova: The Farther Shore

Russia –   The book “The Farther Shore” is about how the history of the past and present endowed with ...

Jon Tonks: Empire

United Kingdom –  Empire is a fascinating journey across the South Atlantic exploring life on four remote islands – the British ...