Fascinating Photographs of Chinese Families With All of Their Possessions

By Emily Temple

Sep. 24, 2012

For the past ten-odd years, Huang Qingjun has traveled the Chinese countryside, asking residents to allow him to photograph them outside their homes, with all their worldly possessions on display. “Most people thought what I was proposing was not normal. When I explained I wanted to set up a photo, that it would involve taking everything out of their house and setting it up outside, that took quite a lot of explaining,” he told the BBC. “But almost all of them, when they realized what I was trying to do, they understood the point.” The ongoing project, Jiadang (Family Stuff), which we discovered via Metafilter, has taken Qingjun to almost half of China’s provinces, and provides a lovely and poignant view of the way life is lived there. Click through to see some of our favorites of Qinjun’s photographs, and then head here to learn more about the artist.

Photo credit: Huang Qingjun