Seeing is believing

Before coming to China, whatever little I knew about the country came from my interaction with Chinese people abroad, news reports by foreign media and endless speculation.

I always felt the mainland was culturally similar to India, where I grew up, and radically different from the United States, where I was born. I never expected to see a Tesla car on the road, or use an Uber taxi to get around - but as they say, anything is possible in China.

However, the media functions very differently here, and one of my first concerns was whether I'd be able to take pictures freely on the streets. Will locals shoo me away? Would they want to be photographed by a stranger? Will the photos be compelling?

Besides this, I was concerned with what I wanted to say about China through my photographs. Did I want to blindly add to the ongoing narrative, or focus on aspects that one doesn't see in the news?

Would I spend my time photographing the guards at Beijing's Tian'anmen Square or exploring the punk scene?

Many of these answers became clearer when I began documenting the city through news assignments and daily features.

My first assignment came minutes after I arrived at the photo department. There was a loud procession on the street outside, and my editor told me to run. Getting there I realized the procession was a traditional Chinese wedding between an American man and a Chinese woman. It was a unique and exciting start to my internship. The photo was published on page two and widely circulated online. I was elated.

While I'm here, I want to use my foreign perspective, with the understanding that what may be exotic and unfamiliar to me may be familiar and mundane to a Chinese audience.

Although my photographs at China Daily are primarily for a foreign readership, I'm curious about how Chinese people see my work. Am I just another outsider projecting my own idea of China onto my photographs, or am I able to work and think like someone who belongs here?

Does my work depict China accurately? Does it provide any insight that one may not get from books? Is it meaningful?

At this point I have more questions than answers, and I feel like I've only scratched the surface.

Text and photos by Akash Ghai

People exercise as a woman prays at Jingshan Park near the Forbidden City in Beijing.

Women perform a coordinated dance at a public square in Chaoyang district, Beijing.

Two friends look at pictures on their phones in front of this poster at Sanlitun, a famous shopping and entertainment area in Beijing.

Migrants rest near a construction site in the central business district of Beijing.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 08/05/2016 page4)