Work: Research & Photography
Location: People’s Republic of China
View: Full text
The Rural, The Urban and The Great Migration: China’s Migrating Peasant and the Rise of the Urban Village is a research project that began as a look into the informal settlements called ‘urban villages’ in China’s urban-peripheral regions. It became a larger study into the country’s transitioning politico-economic structures and the mechanisms that led to its development. Of particular focus is the trajectory of the mass of rural peasants who now live in these settlements, and the systemic marginalization they face.
I visited one such region, Shenzhen, Guangdong, to document the contrasting density and street life of the urban villages and their associated informal economies against the rapidly developing areas of the city where glass and steel highrises are found. These areas often existed side-by-side. As the country’s first Special Economic Zone, Shenzhen has been swiftly developing from a small agricultural city into a global economic hub for the last 45 years thanks, in large part, to the massive migrant labour force.
Location: People’s Republic of China
View: Full text
The Rural, The Urban and The Great Migration: China’s Migrating Peasant and the Rise of the Urban Village is a research project that began as a look into the informal settlements called ‘urban villages’ in China’s urban-peripheral regions. It became a larger study into the country’s transitioning politico-economic structures and the mechanisms that led to its development. Of particular focus is the trajectory of the mass of rural peasants who now live in these settlements, and the systemic marginalization they face.
I visited one such region, Shenzhen, Guangdong, to document the contrasting density and street life of the urban villages and their associated informal economies against the rapidly developing areas of the city where glass and steel highrises are found. These areas often existed side-by-side. As the country’s first Special Economic Zone, Shenzhen has been swiftly developing from a small agricultural city into a global economic hub for the last 45 years thanks, in large part, to the massive migrant labour force.
