PHOTOJOURNALISM

PHOTO ESSAY: CHINA YOUTH  Part 2 of 2

Since the violent end to China’s student-led democracy movement in 1989, young people’s energies have been channeled away from politics and into material and cultural pursuits. With permission and even encouragement from Beijing, this only-child generation is absorbing modern influences and searching for self-identity at the same time the country goes through this dramatic economic transformation.

While the drama of China’s recent emergence as a major world player has been well documented with statistics, photographs of surreal modern cityscapes, and portraits of eager businessmen, I have tried to show more subtle indications of change. By exploring the lives of this transitional generation I have found not only dynamics and desires particular to modern Chinese, but many that are common to young people everywhere.

back to Part 1