CHINA OBSCURA

Arrivato in Cina un giorno dopo il massacro di P.za Tienanmen, Mark Leong era in una posizione privilegiata per documentare la trasformazione economica e sociale del paese che aveva abbracciato il capitalismo e abbandonato i propri ideali socialisti. Le sue immagini mostrano persone comuni intente a cercare il loro posto in una società riconfigurata.

Groups of Falun Gong followers numbering in the hundreds and sometimes thousands openly practice spiritual breathing exercises. The following spring, the government began a nationwide suppression of the Falun Gong movement. Beijing, 1998

Neighbors play mahjongg while their houses are demolished. Beijing, 1996

Shanghai, 1997

In the intensely anti-American political climate during the months following the NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, young Chinese continued flocking to fast food outlets like KFC and McDonald's. Beijing, 1999

Sandy, 25, sells body piercings, stuffed toys, and other gifts at her shop. Her boyfriend stays at home playing an online computer game seven hours a day. Beijing, 2003

A plainclothes policeman monitors a show by the metal band Tang Dynasty. Beijing, 1992

A drug user breaks small paper pods of heroin on a crisp 100 yuan note, where he sifts it before smoking it. Lanzhou, 2002

Ancestor worship ritual during the Lunar New Year. Food offerings and the burning of symbolic paper money are gifts to the spirit world. Taishan, 1990

Migrant workers float from city to city looking for work and sleep in the train station until they can find jobs, usually on construction sites. Beijing, 1992

A young woman tries on a rented wedding dress at a photo studio. She is already married, but only now has enough money saved up to have pictures taken. Shenzhen, 1999

Dang Jianjun, 21, lost both arms in a factory punch press accident on August 13, 1999 at 2:00 a.m., eight hours into the overnight shift. An average of 31 such accidents per day occurred that year in Shenzhen. Shenzhen, 2001

All photos © Mark Leong

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