Photography: Incredible shots of China's busy coastline from Zhang Xiao

Date
21 January 2014

Now we know for sure that the residents of China aren’t watching their sunrise on a giant plasma screen (phew!) we thought it was high time to investigate how the most populated nation in the world actually spends its days. Enter Zhang Xiao, a 32-year-old photographer from China’s Shandong province. Since graduating with a degree in Art & Design from the architecture department at Yantai University he’s been documenting his homeland with an insider’s attention to detail and an unflinching eye for composition.

Not only do his images afford a close-up look at a culture so similar, yet unwaveringly different to our own, but they do so with an extraordinary awareness of aesthetics. In Zhang’s images we’re not just looking at the people’s lives within them, we’re appreciating a balance of colour, structure and form captured in the most fleeting of moments. His Coastline series somehow manages to make even the most rubbish-littered stretches of beach look appealing enough for a bit of a paddle.

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Zhang Xiao: Coastline

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Zhang Xiao: Coastline

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Zhang Xiao: Coastline

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Zhang Xiao: Coastline

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Zhang Xiao: Coastline

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Zhang Xiao: Coastline

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Zhang Xiao: Coastline

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Zhang Xiao: Coastline

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About the Author

James Cartwright

James started out as an intern in 2011 and came back in summer of 2012 to work online and latterly as Print Editor, before leaving in May 2015.

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