ChinaPhoto

 

A vast country, an unfathomable number of people and a great many photographs would explain why it’s taken as long as it has to review, edit and publish them all in one place – but have a look at my new site, ChinaPhoto and I hope you’ll agree it’s been worth the effort!

In 2012 I moved to Beijing without expectations.

I found a world city awash with old and new, from shiny (and empty) shopping centres doubling up as impromptu badminton courts to ancient, imperial palaces which heave and swarm with the new internal tourist trade – save for those few times when the snow comes down and the photographer in you gets up early.

The rest of this vast country is as contradictory as it is charming. The start of the Silk Road and the end of the Emperors nestle together with Mongolian herdsmen, buddhist monks and peasant farmers. In amongst it all, the Party continues, the consumers shop and the dragon roars.

What I saw during my time in China was an ambitious country, eager to develop & eager to progress.  Ready to put its best foot forward and take on a new leadership role in the wider world, it thrives in sweeping gestures and impressive scale.

But for all China’s attempts to make a grand impression on the world, it was countless smaller moments from countless people that made the greatest impression on me.

So whatever is set in stone for the political landscape of the Five Year Plan, China remains an ever changing human landscape of smells, sounds, and sights, constantly delighting and surprising the senses.

Hopefully ChinaPhoto will be an enjoyable collection of images of life in 21st century China. It has the old and the new, the large and the human sized, the weird and the wonderful. These photographs can’t capture the flavours, the smell or the noise of modern China but perhaps they can give you a taste.