Painting a picture of life on the edge

A number of artists have banded together to visit some of Beijing's poorest areas and highlight the lives of residents whose crucial role in the city's development is often overlooked. Tang Yue reports.

When a group of young Chinese artists and enthusiasts decided to act as an artistic version of Capital in the Twenty-First Century and examine the gap between the haves and have-nots, they chose to start by documenting the lives of those on the bottom rungs of the social ladder - Beijing's army of migrant workers.

Participants in the project, called "Between the Fifth and Sixth Ring Roads", were required to visit, or even better live in, one of the many villages dotted across the belt of land between the capital's two outermost ring roads for at least 10 days, and then tell the residents' stories in their own way. Since the project began in October, the lives of residents in 30 villages have been recorded, and a further three villages are under the microscope as the project is scheduled to end some time around June.