They say you don’t miss your water ’till the well runs dry, but what about when you can see it evaporating before your eyes? Makes you wanna dive in and gulp down the last few litres before it’s gone forever! That’s a bit like the way I feel right now. As much as China has […]
Tag Archives: urban village
November
16
Tangxia – new inspiration
posted by Adam Robert Young
After so many trips to the same urban villages in Guangzhou, I was in need of something fresh. I love the urban villages – photographically there are so many things that make for interesting images with great textures and lighting that inspires me every time, as well as the fact that they’re populated by a […]
September
04
Chebei Girl
posted by Adam Robert Young
As I was wandering through the alleyways of Chebei urban village a few days ago, I spotted this sweet little thing. She was shy but curious at the same time. She was outside her family’s shop, and when she ran back in, I knew if she came back out to look again I’d have the […]
September
03
Ghost Festival in China
posted by Adam Robert Young
It seems every time I take a wander through one of Guangzhou’s urban villages, I stumble on something new. This time I saw resident after resident burning incense, gold ingots made of folded paper, food and alcohol outside the doors to their homes. It turns out they were following the rituals associated with the Chinese […]
September
01
Tancun 2012
posted by Adam Robert Young
Tancun is a small urban village in Guangzhou just a hop, skip and a jump from the city’s new CBD. Currently, the community is under no threat of demolition, but it seems it’s only a matter of time. The area is populated almost entirely by migrant workers who flock to the city in search of […]
July
25
Yangji #1: Yao’s eviction
posted by Adam Robert Young
You may have read my post on Xiancun village last week. This week, the story of an urban village in a more advanced stage of demolition and a sign of what lies ahead for Xiancun: Yangji Village. This is what Yangji village used to look like: I didn’t visit Yangji village until almost all of […]
A very interesting post…
posted by Adam Robert Young
I stumbled on a very interesting post on a Russian website here about a photographic series based on the Chinese “replica” art industry. It features “artists” holding their works with the backdrop of urban villages which could very well be the ones I visit regularly. I recognise the tiles and the stuff posted on the […]
July
14
Xiancun village – A brave fight and sad loss
posted by Adam Robert Young
Today, the village of Xiancun in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is surrounded by a wall with police and military guards at the gates, and the community is preparing for its inevitably tragic fate. ID is required to enter the village, and at this point, nobody but the local residents who stay and fight […]
Kids and mangoes in Guangzhou
posted by Adam Robert Young
On this trip to Chebei urban village in Guangzhou there was no surveillance, no drinking police officers, no mouth-painting calligraphers. Although I didn’t collect any fascinating stories this time, I did manage to come home with some photos I don’t mind, one in particular that I quite like. This one: I was walking through the […]
Wandering Chinese Alleys
posted by Adam Robert Young
Last Tuesday I was back in the alleys, this time in a couple of urban villages (read slum communities) I’d not been to before – LuJiang (鹭江) and Guitian (桂田) villages. I was struck by a couple of things, and I’m gonna mention them in relation to the photographs that show the things I saw on the day… 1. […]
Adam Robert Young 