photography

A photo essay by Daniel Rickleman

We're used to the bird's eye view of China, but what of the view from below? In this photo essay, geologist and amateur photographer Daniel Rickleman points his lens up at the Shanghai Tower, the Shanghai World Financial Centre and Beijing's CCTV tower, to give up an idea of what China's skyrocketing development looks like from the ground up, lost in the clouds, the night or the smog ...

A photo essay by Lauren Teixeira

If I had not grasped the insane love of basketball among Chinese boys before I came to China, I was aware of it by the end of teaching my first English class. During the obligatory introduction session my male students, one after the other, told me that their hobbies were “basketball and computer games”. But really, I needed only consult my roster. Over the course of one year in Nanjing, I taught approximately five Kobes, two Bryants, three Derrick Roses, two Peirces, a Wade and an Iverson.

Despite the widespread passion for the game, which is played in most Chinese schools, kids have little chance to enjoy it in their free time. It broke my heart to see how stressed out my students were, studying from sunrise to sundown. This basketball tournament was the first time I had seen them truly excited. I started to bring my camera to their daily twenty-minute lunchtime matches. This is how I want to remember my students – cheering, captivated, momentarily forgetful of schoolwork, shooting for the hoop.

A photo essay by Jens Schott Knudsen

Ed: These photos will be exhibited at Ju Er space (no.8 Ju’er hutong, Beijing) with an exhibition opening this Sunday April 24th at 4pm

"Peking is like a grand old tree, whose roots stretch deep into the earth and draw sustenance from it. Living under its shade and subsisting upon its trunk and branches are millions of insects … How can a Peking resident describe Peking, so old and so grand?"

- Lin Yutang, 1940

Life in a frame – photography by Siok Siok Tan

Ed: We're proud to present a selection of a dozen photographs by the very talented Siok Siok Tan, a Beijing resident who took a picture of hutong life every day for a year. Check out her Instagram and her website for much more like this, and she will release a photography book in spring 2016

In(ner) Mongolia – a photo essay by Daniel Rickleman

Ed: We may be a writers' colony, but words all too often speak louder than words, so we're running this photo essay by Daniel Rickleman without any gloss or introduction. Also check out his previous photography for the Anthill from the Li river, Karst Away