Chen Ronghui, Playa Maya Water Park, Shanghai, 2015, from “Modern Shanghai & Runaway World,” inkjet print.
As China urbanizes, theme parks are springing up in the suburbs of the country’s developed regions. Large Numbers of young people living in the suburbs choose to relax in theme parks on weekends.
Chen Ronghui, Five Art Candidates, Fushun, 2018, from “Freezing Land,” inkjet print.
A group of students who are about to take the art exam stand in front of a promotional poster for the city. Fushun, February 2018.
Chen Ronghui, A Blue Boy, Fularji, 2017, from “Freezing Land,” inkjet print.
Lin Zi, 14, sits in a café where internet celebrities live stream their performances online in Fularji, Heilongjiang, China, February 2017. After dropping out of school, Zhi began performing on the Chinese Internet and has almost a million fans today. He says, “My parents abandoned me, and I make money by doing drag shows on a live streaming app.”
Chen Ronghui, David, Hangzhou, 2013, from “Day and Night,” inkjet print.
David, a senior, stayed up all night preparing for an interview. For many young people in China, it is very difficult to find a suitable job.
Chen Ronghui, Untitled, New Haven, 2019, from “An Ordinary Evening in New Haven,” inkjet print.
At night, light always enters my apartment through the windows. As an international student, such glimmers remind me of my childhood in rural China. My grandparents didn’t turn on the lights at night in order to save money. As a left-behind child, I was full of curiosity at night and stared at the moonlight and fireflies in a daze.
Chen Ronghui, Mickey, New Haven, 2020, from “Dual Self Portraits,” inkjet print.
On the left is my selfie and on the right is my classmate, Mickey. He’s holding a knife in the kitchen. My mobile phone’s dual camera can capture me and what I see at the same time.