Coastline by Zhang Xiao

非常感谢设计方张晓 将项目介绍和项目图片授权gooood发行。更多请至：Zhang Xiao on gooood
Appreciation towards  Zhang Xiao for providing the following description:

China has long coastline which from the mouth of Yalu river in Liaoning province in the northern to the mouth of Beilun river in Guangxi province in the southern. Totally, it is continuous eighteen thousands kilometers. There are great changes every day in China since it began opening up 30 years ago. The cities are like big construction sites speeding their construction pace to catch up with the rest of the world. All of this appears particularly outstanding in China’s coastal areas. A multitude of countrymen leave their native place to go there. Urbanization drive continually accelerate growth while people’s spiritual life stay.

In China, every year hundreds of millions of people find work in other places. During the Spring Festival, hundreds of millions of people return home during a very short time, so the whole family can be reunited. They come from everywhere, North to South, East to West. People often lose their way during this process, losing the feeling of a real home. Lacking a sense of belonging, perhaps this is a symptom of being Chinese during this time.

The coastal areas are the windows of Chinese open and connect china with the world as a bond. Global unify give boundless chances to the coastal areas of china, and make many mythologies of the coastal areas rising sharply. The coastline is beautiful and dolorous. So many people come here with dreams but then are drown in the crowd, and they go with the stream finally. At the same time, worse and worse environment make people put the problems of environment to unprecedentedly important programmer.

When I was a child, I was eager for the sea and I felt the sea is mysterious, and I can never touch it. Now, I also feel as before. I come here to seek strong emotional conflicts and rich image pictures, which may with some mawkishness and mood, lose. The sea is the beginning of lives and dreams, at the same time; I am looking for a hometown in my heart.

中国拥有漫长的海岸线，北起辽宁的鸭绿江口，南到广西的北仑河口，绵延一万八千多公里。改革开放三十多年来，中国每天都在发生着巨大的变化，中国的每一座城市都像是一个永不完工的大工地。中国也正在加快步伐紧跟全球化的大潮流。这一切在中国的沿海地区显得尤为突出。大批的国人背井离乡潮水般的不断涌来。城市化进程持续高速，人们的精神生活却缓慢停滞。

在中国，每年有几亿人在沿海地区打工，每年春节有几亿人口在很短的时间内为了全家团圆大规模集体迁徙，由南到北，自东至西。我们时常会在这样的过程中迷失，哪里才是我的故乡。在中国面貌发生翻天覆地变化的同时，许多传统观念和生活习惯也被颠覆。中国人传统的生活习性受到了强烈的冲击。缺乏归属感，或许是我们当代中国人内心里的集体困扰。

在路上时常会被人问到，你来这里干什么？我们这里有什么好拍的？我也经常问自己同样的问题，我为什么要来这里？我总是回答：“来看看，看看……”我想我只是想拿起相机去记录当下中国这些真实的人和真实的景观，去面朝大海。

小时候的我对大海就有一种渴望，觉得大海很神秘，无法接近，现在依旧如此。我来到这里寻找那些强烈的情感冲突和丰富的影像画面，或许还会有许多的伤感与失落。海是生命和梦想开始的地方，同时我也在寻找我内心的那个故乡。

MORE: 张晓，Zhang Xiao，更多请至：Zhang Xiao on gooood