Photographer Captures Life of Rural Chinese People - as part of the news series by GeoBeats.
Things are changing in China. Over the past generation, consumerism has seen an enormous surge. Chinese photographer Huang Qingjun has spent about a decade traveling around to remote areas and capturing on film the possessions of rural families.
Going to 14 of the 33 provinces in China, his photos have documented the drastic changes taking place there.
He asks the families to bring all of their things outside of their house and pose for a picture alongside them.
He told the BBC that as his project reaches the ten year mark he wants to return to the locations that he initially photographed to see how things have changed.
Photojournalist Peter Menzel undertook a similar project in the early 1990’s, only with a much broader scope. He endeavored to use photos to display how average families around the world live, by showcasing them outside of their homes next to all, or most, of their worldly belongings. Using socio-economic statistics generated by United Nations and World Bank, Menzel’s work shows how differently people live in different places. He published his photos in a book entitled ‘Material World.’
