China 85/07

Summary: The Dutch photographer Koen Wessing (b. Amsterdam, 1942) visited China four times. In 2006 his trip took him to Shanghai, Beijing and Datong, among other places, and in 2007 to Chongqing, Tibet and Kashgar. About two decades before, in 1985 and 1986, he had also travelled to the Middle Kingdom. Among the places he visited on those trips were Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Yangshuo, Kunming, Dali, Chongqing, Leshan, Emeishan, Chengdu, Hohhot, Datong, Beijing, Shanghai, Fuzhou, Ningbo, Lhasa and Samoye (both Tibet). In both periods Koen Wessing turned his camera primarily on the less affluent population and on rural migrants. His expressive and empathetic black-and-white photography offers an intriguing look at the reality of China, then and now.