China Everbright
As China follows the world’s lead in 2008, transforming from a majority rural population to majority urban, the country finds itself at the intersection of crises of its identity, its politics, and its economy. Many of these crises don’t play out in newspaper headlines or television news crawls but instead manifest themselves in day-to-day life in a constantly changing urban landscape. The alleyways that once formed a neighborhood have become high-rise apartment complexes and hypermarkets; the fields where vegetables once grew have become the foundation of a ten-lane superhighway; a diet consisting mostly of vegetables and tofu has become a demand for milk and meat. China Everbright is a portrait of this subtle, long-term conflict between the past and the future, between the shrinking countryside and the birth and expansion of cosmopolitan city centers. It’s a view of the change inherent in everyday life in eastern China, a region rich in history, but which is lurching, full-bore along the road of progress.
A man tends a small patch of vegetables surrounded by new construction in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China. Shoppers exit a supermarket in Dong Tai, China. Children play in giant inflatable balls on a lake in the White Horse Sculpture Park in Nanjing, China. Police hold back travelers trying to enter the train station in Nanchang, China, during the heavy traveling period before the Spring Festival. The country's train system was severely crippled by some of the worst winter weather in China in more than 50 years, and many travelers were forced to abandon travel plans or wait out the weather while stranded in train stations far from home. A young boy plays with fireworks near a garbage fire in central Sanya, Hainan, China. A man crosses a busy street on a pedestrian overpass in Beijing, China. People climb up a rock face at the top of the Purple-Gold Mountain in the outskirts of Nanjing, China. Seen out of a car window, a young child stands in the front area of a house in Qingdun Village, Gangyun County, Jiangsu, China. Gangyun County is one of the poorest counties in prosperous Jiangsu province. A public security volunteer sleeps under a McDonald's umbrella on a pedestrian overpass near the Beijing Railway Station in Beijing, China. A jewelry merchant passes out free bracelets and necklaces to a few lucky passers-by outside a supermarket in Nanjing, China. The merchant hoped the giveaway would act a promotion for his store. Tourists stream out of the Tiananmen Gate of the Forbidden City compound in Beijing, China. Freshmen at the Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine line up for military training on a basketball court in Nanjing, China. Military training has been mandatory for all Chinese university students since the 1989 Tiananmen Square uprising. A woman fights with police as they dismantle part of her small restaurant and confiscate equipment that she stored on the sidewalk outside of her shop in the Fuzi Miao tourist market in central Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Police in Nanjing began a crackdown on sidewalk vendors and shopowners in advance of the May 1st worker's holiday. A diorama depicts the founding of modern China at a museum in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. People wait to meet travelers as they arrive at the Hefei, China, train station. Construction workers in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, work at the site of a high-rise luxury apartment and business building in the central Xinjeikou District of the city. The workers are all migrants from outside of Nanjing, and, as migrants, are unable to qualify for many of the social benefits afforded to official urban residents of Nanjing. People surround a girl lying injured on the pavement in Nanjing, China. After a high-profile lawsuit a involving a person injured in a fall, Nanjing residents rarely help those who appear injured on the streets in fear of being sued for causing the injury. A woman butchers dogs at the central downtown market in Yangshuo, Guangxi Province, China. As China's middle class grows, the demand for meat has increased. Dog farms have been increasing in number as cheaper and more efficient meat alternative to pork. University students play basketball on the campus of the Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Nanjing, China. Travelers wait for buses at a rest stop in Dexing, Shandong, China. Cigarette smoking among men has increased as the population has urbanized, with an estimated 2.2 million dying per year due to smoking-related problems by 2020. A circular movie projector inside the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum displays a view of what Shanghai will look like in the future. Workers load a truck in Nanjing, China. A young girl looks at a mural depicting a 20th century Communist uprising in Nanjing, China, at the Yuhuatai Museum of Revolutionary Martyrs in Nanjing, China. A Trust-Mart supermarket employee rests on an escalator between floors of the supermarket in Nanjing, China. A man looks out a window while smoking on a train in rural Jiangsu Province, China. A young businessman holds his head while relaxing at a coffee shop in Dong Tai, Jiangsu, China. A man with two amputated legs begs for change on the street in Beijing, China. A lone smokestack peaks above the horizon in rural Jiangsu Province, China. Jiangsu Province, one of China's most prosperous provinces, is working rapidly to develop industrial production in its rural counties.
photos by M. Scott Brauer
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