Since the reforms, Chinese society has changed. The technical and scientific standards have been raised, and the quality of life has improved overall. But the speed and magnitude of the changes have created new problems, the worst of which is pollution.
The authorities remain obsessed with economic performance. They never think about whether or not their actions will damage the environment of threaten the lives of its citizens. Of course, the government claims that it’s concerned about environmental issues, and some superficial progress has been made. When walking through a Chinese industrial zone, it’s impressive to see the roads lined with trees and streetlamps. But all it takes is one gust of wind to smell the chemicals in the air: the pollution hasn’t gone away.
Many industries simply bury the pipes they use to get rid of untreated sewage. As long as there is no system of fines or legal action taken against the polluters, as long as local governments keep thinking on a national scale, as long as they keep deluding themselves that the pollution for which they are directly responsible is so small in the bigger picture, nothing will change.
Given this context, there is a lot that our profession can do, especially since photography is a medium well-suited to send messages to the public and to the authorities. The Chinese people are so used to communist propaganda that most of them believe that a speech is at least 80% lies, whereas a photograph is at least 80% truth. Reports are most effective at a local level but cannot resolve the problem nationally. Overcoming pollution will take time and will required the combined efforts of all Chinese citizens.
BOOK
China Now
Direction : Yann Layma
360 x 250 mm
192 pages
Punlisher: La Martinière
09 octobre 2014
ISBN 9782732448824
49 €
