Where is My Hometown

This is a photography project documenting my hometown, the fifth largest island in China, which has been developed into an industrial complex island. I returned to my hometown in 2013 and have been continuously working on this project.

My hometown, Donghai Island, is located in the eastern part of the Leizhou Peninsula, the southernmost point of China's mainland. In history, it was under the jurisdiction of ancient Leizhou Prefecture and is currently the fifth largest island in China. It was once a secluded natural island with a primarily fishing and agricultural economy, and its people have remained committed to traditional ethnic customs and practices for many years.

Around 2007, Donghai Island underwent large-scale development. With the construction and operation of major projects in steel, petrochemicals, paper making, pharmaceuticals, and other industries, Donghai Island launched the slogan of "Building a Modern Industrial New City" with the goal of achieving it by 2030.

In the year of 2013, I returned to my hometown from Jiangsu Province and embarked on documenting this place through photography. Following the memories of my childhood, I managed to get back to the villages separated for a long time and stepped foot on the native soil, then I felt a tangle of complex emotions. At times, I felt a sense of freedom and joy, while at others, I felt lost and disheartened. The scenes of my childhood were still vivid in my mind, yet the mountains and the sea were no longer the same as before... Everything seemed to have changed, leaving me only a sense of desolation and estrangement.

Today, I still reside in the same village where I grew up, but the factories are gradually encroaching and many young people or those with some economic foundation have migrated to the city. Now, I'm not even sure how long I will be able to continue living on Donghai Island. I have envision several possible futures for Donghai Island, yet haven't figured out my own future. I continue to document my hometown through photography, constantly rediscovering and saying farewell to the past.

Donghai Island is currently undergoing an unprecedented era of transformation. In this wave of massive development and progress, the countryside involves no longer only a complex issue of land and urban-rural transformation, but also involves the reconstruction of clan systems, moral disorder, and spiritual disorder.

These photographs not only serve as an archive of my personal images of the hometown, but also reflect on and explore the spiritual and human aspects of the current changes and development taking place in rural China.