Andy Wong is a veteran Associated Press photographer. Though ethnically Chinese, he was born in Malaysia and studied Graphic Art Design & Photography at the Institute of Art in Malaysia. Over his almost two decades with the AP he developed a specialty in sports photography, covering at least two Olympic Games, tennis tournaments, and Formula One races. But today I'll focus on a quite different part of Andy Wong’s career.
In 2007 Wong found his base in Beijing and since then managed to gather an interesting selection of photos providing an insight into the Chinese society. Be it the shattering aftermath of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, or the mass forced evictions prior to the Beijing Olympics, Wong was there to capture the “other side” of China—not the glistening skyscrapers of the elite, but the muddy ground level of the majority.
Environmental destruction, AIDS, suppression of dissent—Wong creates a canvas that gives the picture of Michelle Obama playing ping pong in Beijing a kind of bitter aftertaste.
Yet Wang’s photos also show life. Over 1.3 billion people living, most just trying to get by or make a better future for their children. The First Lady was, after all, playing ping pong at a school that prepares youth to study abroad. Their parents hope them to leave for New York, Los Angeles, or Sydney, get a degree, job, perhaps a green card. That’s the Chinese dream.
And perhaps these young people hope to return one day, when the time is right—to a different China.
