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Parallel Universes: Photos by Mark Leong

by Mark Leong
Winter 2007

leong600 runaway Xian, 2000. A 10-year-old runaway from Gansu province lives on a staircase near Xian Station, scrounging for food, smoking cigarette butts, and begging in order to survive.

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leong600 bride Shenzhen, 1999. A young woman tries on a rented wedding dress at a photo studio. She is already married, but only now has she saved up enough money to have pictures taken.

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leong600 cereal Beijing, 2004. Pushing cold cereal, which is not part of the current Chinese breakfast menu, a sales rep tries to market directly to the next consumer generation.

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leong600 floating Beijing, 1992. Migrant workers, who float from city to city looking for work, sleep in the train station until they can find jobs, usually on construction sites.

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leong600 adidas Guangzhou, 2005. Adidas-contracted factory "Apache II" has over 10,000 employees, the vast majority migrant workers.

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leong600 genetic Beijing, 2005. The Center for Plant Transformation at China Agricultural University researches genetically modified plants, including rice and corn, as technology tries to keep up with consumption.

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leong600 golf Beijing, 2004. At Bokai Intelligence and Capability Kindergarten, violin is optional but golf is mandatory.

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leong600 mahjongg Beijing, 1996. Neighbors play mah-jongg while their houses are demolished around them.

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leong600 massage Shenzhen, 2005. Migrants from Hunan and other provinces work in a massage parlor.

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leong600 tang Beijing, 1992. Plainclothes policeman monitors a show by the metal band Tang Dynasty.

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winter07 features leong bottles Beijing, 2004. Early morning at Cloud Nine disco.

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leong600 wushan Wushan, 2003. The Yangtze River begins rising as the Three Gorges Dam starts operation after a decade of construction. The water level tops the 125-meter target markers on June 10, ten days after the sluice gate was closed for the first time.

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leong600 metaldetector Shenyang 2006. Man salvages scrap metal from the ruins of what was once China's largest manufacturer of screws and other standard parts.

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winter07 features leong moyunxiu Shenzhen, 2005. 17-year-old migrant girl fresh off the bus from rural Guangxi, looking for a place to stay in Shenzhen. She doesn't really know anybody in Shenzhen, and her life is comfortable in Guangxi; she just wants to see more of the world.

Mark Leong is a photographer based in Beijing; his book, China Obscura, was published in 2004 by Chronicle Books. He will be exhibiting at the Open Society Institute in New York until mid-May, and at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery from December through mid-March.