My Students and I

My name is Jin Gailian (pseudonym：Jin Li). I was born in 1951 and had taught English for nearly 35 years. After retirement, I often give English tutoring to the children of my relatives and friends. During the particular days in the spring of 2020 when we were chanllenged by the pandemic, we all had to stay at home. I often thought of the students that I used to teach. One day, the idea strikes me to start a photography project of my students. Over the course of a year and half, I travelled to many cities in China and took over 120 environmental portraits of my students. I made a photo book, My Students and I, published and distributed by China Photography Press. I imagine myself as the thread and my students as the pearls. When I put them together in the medium of photography, it turns out to be such a priceless treasure. I love my students, and I am proud of them. I celebrate them as heroes, even though they are just ordinary people. I bring them to life with photography to show their vivid faces, which is the state of existence of contemporary Chinese people. Their expressions, clothing, body posture, working or living environment and even some props allow the reader to read