Down to the Countryside

The world has heard much of late about the scale and scope of China’s mass migration from the poor rural countryside to its booming cities. Some think the number of these migrant workers will soon reach some 400 million souls. They have created...
Earthbound China
12.15.14

A Map of China’s Back-to-the-Land Efforts

Leah Thompson

In our short film “Down to the Countryside,” Sun Yunfan and I follow Ou Ning, an artist and curator who moved from Beijing to the village of...

Earthbound China
01.10.14

Historical Value: A Chinese Town Appraises Its Past

Leah Thompson

The once-grand entrance of the Mingxian Hall is locked and hidden behind splintered boards and overgrown greenery. Wang Shouchang, a sixty-seven-year-old farmer from Bishan village, leads us into the cramped kitchen of the farmhouse next door and...

Earthbound China
12.17.12

Unlikely Harvest

Leah Thompson

A little over month ago, I found myself traveling to rural Anhui province. Coal+Ice, the documentary photography exhibition I had produced for Asia Society, had been invited...

Culture
10.01.11

Bishan Harvestival

 from Leap

One can almost imagine Bishan in its heyday. On the evening of August 26, 2011 the village’s daytime enthusiasm gushes towards the Yi County Cinema. It’s the kind of movie theater almost every small town has had, but Bishan’s has somehow managed...