Seeing 2016 Through Eyes on China
Twenty Images from an Intimate Distance
An ethnic Uighur girl waits in a beauty salon to have her hair done before the Corban festival known elsewhere as Eid al-Adha, or “feast of the sacrifice,” in Turpan County, Xinjiang. Though Islam is one of five “officially recognized” religions in China, local officials often severely restrict Uighurs’ ability to practice their faith. These restrictions, as well as ethnic tensions, have fueled violence in Xinjiang and across China—violence that Beijing uses to justify further repression. Photo by Kevin Frayer @kevinfrayer
Modern apartment buildings rise in the background, as a couple soaks in the sun on the roof of one of Hong Kong’s old buildings in the city’s business district. Housing stock remains a problem in Hong Kong, where a large population lives in cramped quarters and the city’s real estate remains among the most expensive in the world. Photo by Billy H.C. Kwok @billyhckwok
Zheng Ruizhen combs her hair after taking a shower in her Shanghai home. She was one of the last holdouts in her neighborhood, until her husband finally signed away their home after local officials threatened to tear down the bathroom. The couple didn’t know how much compensation the Shanghai government was going to offer. Photo by Yuyang Liu @yuyang_liu_
Swallow, 14, sits with her caretakers, her grandfather and his partner, in their home. Her father died in an accident when she was younger and her mother lives and works in Yuncheng, the closest biggest city, but never visits or contacts her. Swallow says her dream is to visit family in Yuncheng, less than 31 miles away. Swallow benefits from the support of one of China’s growing number of ‘Barefoot Social Workers’—community-selected individuals who are trained by UNICEF to provide child protection and welfare services in rural villages. Photo by Sharron Lovell @sharron_l / UNICEF China
On the bank of the Chaobai River in Tianjin, retired firefighter Zhang Mengfan stands with Zhou Junqing, the mother of Jiang Shilei, who died in a massive chemical factory explosion in the city in 2015, one week before Jiang was supposed to be married. Following the explosion, Zhang embarked on a journey across China, visiting several of the families of the 110 firefighters killed in the explosion, eight of whom were his own colleagues. Photo by Zhou Na @zhounaphoto
In June 2015, a couple dozen China-based photographers—some Chinese, some not—founded the Instagram account Eyes on China. Their goal, as member photographer Gilles Sabrié put it, was to collectively create “a diverse, dynamic, and objective view” of the country where they worked. In the final weeks of 2016, ChinaFile collaborated with the group to assemble a gallery of images that eschews major news stories, looking back on the year from a more intimate distance.
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