Huang Qingjun's amazing photography project, "Jiadang" (loose translation: "family stuff") documents the utilitarian, purist lives of some ordinary Chinese families by showing what little material possessions they keep in their homes--even as most of their fellow citizens are busy sprinting in the global economic rat race. They look content…perhaps this is what true economic freedom looks like.
As China's rural infrastructure improves, families have been able to move around thanks to new roads. Recently, more electricity access allows them to keep up with TV and the internet--notice the satellite dishes in the top two photos. Their main concerns now are education and healthcare (sounds like similar values that our American politicians are always arguing about).
Change is constant, and that saying is so true in China. This project actually started in 2003 and Huang plans on returning to these same places to see how things have transitioned. With plans on expanding the series to include people with all kinds of backgrounds, he might even ask Jack Ma (the man behind alibaba.com) but who knows how long it will take for him to move all of his worldly possessions out of his home(s)!
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