Photography: Mengxi Zhang's 350km/h is a portrait of a new high-speed China

Date
19 August 2013

Forced to return to her native China for several months by visa problems after an eight-year stretch in England, Mengxi Zhang found herself bowled over by the changes which were rapidly taking place in the transforming country. So she did what any curious visitor would do and travelled around a bit, taking the new high-speed rail for the first time to shuttle back and forth between popular tourist destinations Chongqing, Hangzhou and Beijing.

Facing temperatures of -30 degrees Celsius, the country was a veritable snow queen for the majority of her stay, as her publication of her photographic series 350km/h illustrates. In an attempt to come to terms with her own mixed feelings towards her motherland, Mengxi photographed across the white-cloaked cities she travelled through, compiling this beautifully pale, somewhat otherworldly collection as a result.

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Mengxi Zhang: 350km/h

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Mengxi Zhang: 350km/h

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Mengxi Zhang: 350km/h

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Mengxi Zhang: 350km/h

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Mengxi Zhang: 350km/h

Above

Mengxi Zhang: 350km/h

Above

Mengxi Zhang: 350km/h

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Maisie Skidmore

Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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