+ photos: © Xiao Zhang
China’s 14,500 kilometres of coastline extend from the mouth of the Yalu in the north to the mouth of the Beilun in the south. Since Deng Xiaoping first opened up China to the world 36 years ago, the country has been racing ahead as if, says Xiao Zhang, “it’s trying to catch up with everybody else.”Cities are permanent building sites and urbanisation is sweeping the countryside – especially coastal areas. “Globalisation has meant unlimited opportunity for the coastline. It crystallizes people’s dreams – but once they get there they just vanish into the crowd.” Xiao Zhang’s fondness for these places goes back to his childhood in Yantai: “As a kid I was so drawn to the sea, and so intrigued by it, that I couldn’t go near it. This emotional conflict is still there, and that’s what drives my images.” His photos of coastal cities map their landscapes and everyday life against a backdrop of economic reform. Shot through with humour and affection, they catch extraordinary minglings of the sublime and the surreal.
Photoquai 2015
