Chinese photographers grabbing global spotlight

The many Chinese tourists opting to travel abroad in tour groups has also led to multiple entries of the same image from different photographers, he said.

"Every year we can tell where a group of Chinese photographers have traveled to because we get submissions of the same photo from a number of different photographers," Coe said, adding that one year they received many entries of the Omo Valley in Ethiopia from Chinese photographers.

This year's Astronomy Photographer of the Year awards, organized by the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, UK, and the Royal Meteorological Society's photography competition for the Weather Photographer of the Year, also in the UK, featured Chinese photographers on the shortlist.

Wang Zheng's image, Across the Sky of History, won the 2019 Astronomy Photographer of the Year award in the Skyscapes category. Dong Shuchang was joint winner of the Sir Patrick Moore Prize for Best Newcomer for his photograph, Sky and Ground, Stars and Sand.

"Since 2000, we have been living in an increasingly digital age where technology is weaving itself deeper into the fabric of our lives. While this digital age encourages artists globally to embrace new technologies, it also prompts a phenomenon to go back to paper and to analog photography," said Cabos-Brulle. Analog photography refers to photography using an analog camera and film.

"For instance, in China there is currently an endeavour to dig out found photographs. Also, there is a strong interest in late 19th century techniques like wet-collodion among others, which enable creation of unique pieces of work," she said.

Found photography is a genre of photography based on the recovery of lost, unclaimed, or discarded photographs. The wet-collodion process involves taking photographs that uses panes of glass, coated with a chemical solution, as the negative.

Cabos-Brulle said a new generation of Chinese photographers born in the 1980s has developed "an introspective approach to the medium, making works about identity, youth culture, sexual identity, gender politics and broader social issues through a kind of performative attitude".

The Photography of China founder said that focus should also be given to a number of women photographers who have played a key role in highlighting current social issues.

"To name just a few, there is the China-based Singaporean photojournalist Sim Chi Yin and her series The Rat Tribe, which documented residents in small underground rooms in China's most important cities," she said.

"There is also Yan Cong, who has been working on topics such as women's issues, social justice and China's relations with its neighboring countries. Her ongoing series Chongli 2022 won the World Press Photo 6x6 Asia Talent this year."