April 2016

As China’s economy slows, the golden age of coal is coming to an end. Photographer Zou Biyu traveled to Jixi, in China’s northeastern Heilongjiang province. Jixi was once a prosperous mining town, but the the decline of the industry has left the local people in poverty and despair.

To make sure their children excel, Chinese parents and grandparents are following them to school classrooms and extracurricular activities, squeezing into practice rooms, showing their support by showing up.

The Chinese government sends Xinjiang government and Party cadres to work directly with local communities, especially in poverty-stricken southern Xinjiang, where riots have become one of the government’s biggest concerns. About 200,000 cadres are involved in this three-year program. Wang Dansui, a Han Chinese photographer born and raised in Xinjiang, went to several villages around the city of Kashgar to photograph the work and life of these cadres.

An estimated 16 million women in China are married to gay men. Most of these women entered their marriages unaware of their husbands’ sexual orientations. Discrimination and parental pressure are key reasons why these unions persist. Gay men and lesbian women often resort to marrying each other to hide their sexuality and to please their parents. Although the issue has been covered by both Chinese and international media in written stories, this photo essay is groundbreaking for the way it visualizes the topic.