Capturing life in a changing world

The government's mission to modernize China's countryside is not merely wishful thinking. The process has been taking shape across vast areas of rural China and is now the subject of a photographic exhibition focusing on Chinese villages in terms of their communities, cultures, rural management and attitudes.

The second Construction of A New Socialist Countryside photo exhibition organized by the China Photographers' Association has 258 award-winning photos on show. Being picked out was no mean feat - there were more than 49,000 entries from across China, many of them captured by members of the very communities they portray.