Statement of the Project
China is viewed by the outside world, for the most part, as consisting wholly of Han Chinese. The truth, however, is that 10 percent of China's 1.2 billion population are from a variety of ethnic and linguistic groups, inhabiting approximately 60 percent of the total land mass. These groups vary greatly, ranging from the Muslim groups of Uighurs in the northwestern province of Xinjiang, to the Buddhist Tibetans of Tibet and surrounding provinces, to the matrilineal societies of the Chiang peoples in Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces. The 55 ethnic groups officially recognized by the state include a mixture of cultures, customs and religions that are threatened with assimilation into the Han Chinese majority.
My first trip to China in 1995 began in my mother's family home of Shanghai. Shanghai is loaded with history but its vision of the future thrusts itself like an invasion upon the debris of old buildings and is certainly a blatant and somewhat horrifying reflection of China's frenzied strife to become the financial center of the world. From the eastern seaboard, I made my way across China to investigate the various ethnic groups of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guanxi, Qinghai and Xinjiang areas. Throughout these 10 provinces, I had the great pleasure of meeting and photographing the delightful and intriguing people of the Bai, Bouyi, Dai, Dong, Hani, Kazak, Hui, Hmong, Naxi, Qiang, Tajik, Uzbek, Uighur, Yi, Wa and Tibetan nationalities. I hope to return to China to cover the remaining provinces and photograph, among others, the Jingpo, Lahu, Maonan, Miao, Mulao, Mongolian, Nu, Sala, She, Tu, Yao and Yugu in the southern and northeastern provinces. My contact with these remarkable people has inspired my photography and changed my life. I want to capture the present-day China before a sweep of change floods the land during this century.
China is an incredible array of faces, colors, fabrics, artwork, architecture, languages and customs which remain memorialized in my mind's eye, forged by the beauty of character and strength of spirit I witnessed through my encounters with the people of that land. The hospitality, generosity and the immediate friendship often extended to me by perfect strangers left me humble and in awe. Through my photography, I have tried to capture the sense of closeness and love I felt for the Chinese people, as well as to document its cultures and society.