Photographer Andy Wong Captures an Insider’s View of China
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.
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.
In this photo taken on June 30, 2010, Ni Yulan sits on the bed in a hotel in Beijing. The former lawyer and veteran activist left disabled by past police mistreatment, went on trial Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, the third dissident in a week to be prosecuted as China presses a sweeping crackdown to deter popular uprisings like the ones that shook the Arab world. AP Photo/Andy Wong
Tibetan children play near their tents set up for quake victims in earthquake-hit Yushu county, northwest China's Qinghai province, Monday, April 19, 2010. AP Photo/Andy Wong
A Tibetan woman stands on top a collapsed building in Yushu County, northwest China's Qinghai province, Friday, April 16 , 2010. Armed with life detectors, rescuers searched for survivors Friday more than 48 hours after an earthquake leveled homes in western China, killing at least 760 people. AP Photo/Andy Wong
Chinese workers take a break in front of the cooling towers of a coal-fired power plant in Dadong, Shanxi province, China, on Dec. 3, 2009. AP Photo/Andy Wong, File
In this file photo taken Dec. 1, 2009, a woman, whose son was infected with HIV, wears a face mask bearing the words "Blood products infect us with AIDS," as she cries during an AIDS awareness event on the World AIDS Day held at Beijing's south railway station. On Tuesday, April 27, 2010, China has scrapped a 20-year travel ban that barred people with HIV and AIDS from entering the country just days ahead of the opening of the Shanghai Expo, which hopes to welcome millions of overseas visitors. AP Photo/Andy Wong
In this June 20, 2008 file photo, parents who lost their children in the May 12 earthquake gather at their children's collapsed school as they wait for the arrival of a government official at the Wufu primary school in Wufu, southwest China's Sichuan province. A Chinese court Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010, sentenced an activist who investigated the deaths of thousands of schoolchildren in the country's massive 2008 earthquake to five years in jail for inciting subversion of state power, the man's lawyer said. AP Photo/Andy Wong
Wang Jinxiang, mother of Chen Guangcheng, takes a rest in the courtyard of her house where Chen was under house arrest, at the Dongshigu village, Shandong province, China, Friday, June 8, 2012. Cameras and security guards that kept Chen under house arrest have gone, but fear lingered among residents of his village Friday and even his mother advised him not to come home. AP Photo/Andy Wong
A Mongolian man takes a rest in between the Yolyn Am ice canyon in the Gurvan Saikhan Mountains, located 45km south of Dalanzadgad, Mongolia, Thursday, July 5, 2012. Yolyn Am, also known as Valley of the Eagles, is a famous sight seeing destination for tourist in southern Mongolia. AP Photo/Andy Wong
An elderly man works in wheat fields near the house where blind activist Chen Guangcheng was under house arrest, at Dongshigu village in Shandong province, China, Friday, June 8, 2012. Cameras and security guards that kept Chen under house arrest have gone, but fear lingered among residents of his village Friday and even his mother advised him not to come home. Residents were still scared of the local officials and of their fellow farmers who enforced the surveillance. AP Photo/Andy Wong
A Chinese man plays with his son near his partially demolished house at the Qianmen hutong in Beijing Sunday, June 8, 2008. Beijing, one of the fabulous cities of antiquity, is experiencing reconstructions to look more modern for the coming summer Olympic games. AP Photo/Andy Wong
A Chinese woman looks up as she exits from an underground tunnel in a snowfall in Beijing Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. China's capital city received small amounts of snow Wednesday with minus temperatures and more snow were predicted for coming days. AP Photo/Andy Wong
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei speaks to a journalist at his studio, before he head to the Beijing No. 2 People's Intermediate Court for his appeal in Beijing Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. Chinese authorities on Thursday rejected Ai's second and final appeal of a $2.4 million tax fine, a ruling he said sprang from a "barbaric and backward legal system." AP Photo/Andy Wong
A man walks along a partially demolished house at hutong alleys against the high-rise apartment blocks in Beijing, China Tuesday, March 8, 2011. China's economy is safe from a "double-dip" slowdown in growth, a top economic planner said Tuesday, though he acknowledged challenges in keeping inflation under control and cutting back on excessive and wasteful investments. AP Photo/Andy Wong
Stray dogs take rest together with a man on the broken sofas placed near a hutong in Beijing Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2011. AP Photo/Andy Wong
In this April 12, 2013 file photo, a woman walks through a neighborhood near a coal-fired power plant in Beijing. Carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached a record high in 2013 as increasing levels of man-made pollution transform the planet, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014. AP Photo/Andy Wong, File
U.S. first lady Michelle Obama plays table tennis at the Beijing Normal School, a school that prepares students to attend university abroad in Beijing, China Friday, March 21, 2014. AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool
A man walks along a partially demolished house at hutong alleys against the high-rise apartment blocks in Beijing, China Tuesday, March 8, 2011. China's economy is safe from a "double-dip" slowdown in growth, a top economic planner said Tuesday, though he acknowledged challenges in keeping inflation under control and cutting back on excessive and wasteful investments. AP Photo/Andy Wong
Petr Svab
reporter
Petr Svab is a reporter covering New York. Previously, he covered national topics including politics, economy, education, and law enforcement.
