Beijing, Beijing

This set of photos was shot with black and white film. The inspiration for this project came from a set of photos I saw taken by Western missionaries in Beijing at the end of the Qing Dynasty more than 100 years ago. Through that set of photos, I felt a magical sense of connection with history. Today, the world and China are quietly undergoing great changes, and Beijing, my hometown, is one of the centers of this change. A grain of sand from history falls on the heads of ordinary people like a mountain, and each of us has become a participant and victim of this history without knowing it. So I decided to turn my lens to ordinary people living in Beijing, hoping to record all of this and pay tribute to ordinary people who work hard to live by shooting year after year. I hope that 100 years later, when future generations see my photos, they can also feel connected to our time and space.