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“Family Possessions”: Living Environments of Chinese Families

by on Saturday, August 27, 2011 73 comments

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

From QQ:

“Family Possessions”: Living environments of ordinary Chinese families

The “Family Possessions” photography project was jointly produced by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie. From 2005, they started shooting some families and the household items they use daily. In the course of their work, they countered many difficulties and challenges, as every family needed them to repeatedly explain the purpose of their photography, to establish a foundation of trust, before the photographers themselves would then arrange the objects to be photographed. [elick to enlarge]

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

"Family Possessions" by Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie, showing the furniture and household items of ordinary families in China.

These photos have have appeared as early as May 2010, for example on Xinhua. Another Xinhua report three months later and a year ago says Huang Qingjun and Ma Hongjie plan to publish 50 photographs and a related photo book by the end of 2011.

Some additional photos from NetEase:

Chinese families in front of their homes with their household possessions.

Chinese families in front of their homes with their household possessions.

Chinese families in front of their homes with their household possessions.

Chinese families in front of their homes with their household possessions.

Chinese families in front of their homes with their household possessions.

Chinese families in front of their homes with their household possessions.

Chinese families in front of their homes with their household possessions.

Chinese families in front of their homes with their household possessions.

Chinese families in front of their homes with their household possessions.

Chinese families in front of their homes with their household possessions.

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  1. travismurphy
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 12:37 am

    aww, thats hardcore. rock it in sofa styles!

    Reply
  2. Anon
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 1:00 am

    Whats that hideously dray backdrop supposed to mean? Mad Max China? Tumbleweed and a dried skeleton is all thats missing. Photos featuring families with more greenery, grass, bushes, creeks or ponds, A WELL please.

    Some chinese style pengzhai and fruit cultivars perhaps? A potted plant at least? Grow some trees ! Such a dusty looking and treeless portion China on display !

    Reply
    • Brett Hunan
      Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 1:40 am

      I think that these photographs accurately display what I have personally seen through my tours of China. Most of the countryside (not to mention cities) are gray most of the year– at least from October to April.

      People who are struggling to get by are probably not worried about their “backdrop” and, in general, photographs don’t need color to be interesting. You should realize that this is a representation of parts of China, not all of China. Not many people live in a green bamboo forest with Buddha statues and ancient architecture.

      The article is about the possessions of -ordinary- Chinese families, not those of the wealthy in Shanghai. The average Chinese household makes a whopping total of about $4,400 per year. Keep in mind that Guo Meimei, Lu Xingyu and a bunch of billionaires keep that number high by a few hundred dollars.

      Reply
      • Anon
        Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 7:36 am

        a. You should realize that this is a representation of parts of China, not all of China. . . . The article is about the possessions of -ordinary- Chinese families, not those of the wealthy in Shanghai. The average Chinese household makes a whopping total of about $4,400 per year. . . .

        I knew that, but there ARE poor families in pleasant environments too y’know. Pics 1 to 8 are quite depressing. Don’t worry I wasn’t looking down on them, you happened to empathize with their poverty more while I feel for their lack of elemental balance in their living space instead.

        b. Not many people live in a green bamboo forest with Buddha statues and ancient architecture.

        I KNOW. Perhaps a campaign to raise funds to make that statuary and greenery, typical of the whole of China, instead of sending cash overseas.

        c.Guo Meimei and Lu Xingyu have their own place in society hence they think differently, but unfortunately Meimei is helping a FOREIGN based charity of a FOREIGN faith that has had a record of unrectified abuses (try the proselytization and politicking for cash and collection of cash, jobs or other privileges for conversion), while Xinyu has forgotten the people in the pictures AND China’s Municipal debt of 2.2 Trillion.

        The rest is a very general overview for Meimei, Xinyu and PRC Finance Ministry personnel who think China has it’s books balanced or that the world economy is not already severely overheated and seriously prone to natural disaster.

        That 2.2. Trillion debt is 27% of GDP, the interest alone is no joke and should not exist to bleed the wealth to financial institutions – how else can wealth distribution occur?

        Would be better to have a surplus of 1 Trillion for every billion citizens at least (thats less than 1000 for each citizen so think how precarious China’s position is – China is not Beijing or Shanghai alone, yes.) before a country the size of China is justified in sending funds overseas.

        Consider the 2.2. Trillion debt (thats 10.7 Trillion Yuan) (say if China intended to return the same in 1 year with no increase. At 1.5% compound interest, this will further result in 233 USD million more in interest at the cost to China’s tax payers to enrich financial institutions.

        Wouldn’t it be better to save 233 million and turn it into principal? What if an extended Trade War occurs and a boycott of Chinese goods happens? GDP would leave China vulnerable to any element of sabotage, if anyone else manages to produce cheaper goods (try South America which of course is so pissed with USA that shipping costs to and from China would be easier to deal with than diplomatic fallout from several decades of provokations and even skirmishes).

        More importantly, why should the PRC enrich any financial insitutions lending money to Municpal Councils at taxpayer expense? Whats this collusion with the State to steal tax monies? CCP is a party of warriors, not a party of shiny suited freaks who are GLC/Big Business colluders like USA.

        Which citizen anywhere in the world needs that sort of thing until they become 42,000 in debt per person like in USA?). With the lack of investment in infrastructure (well maybe the VTOL Cold Fusion engine will solve all problems but till then maintenance of roads and highways will cost China) China needs to start rethinking it’s economic policy.

        ‘Maintaining’ debt is idiotic, pay off everything and keep that surplus in the form of bullion, or at least stores of material and goods to make some sense at least.

        China only has 1 *experimental* aircraft carrier to defend 1.3 billion citizens as opposed to USA’s 22 battle ready aircraft carriers (and other experimental technologies) to defend 300 million citizens. Expansionist USA has 800+ foreign military bases in foreign territory (Isolationist and Defensive China has none) and 1500+ more stateside (China by ratio of population has far less). Can we neglect that fact and ignore and merely maintain internal debt at 2.2 Trillion USD (thats 10.7 Trillion Yuan) while paying interest?

        Please look homewards first, like the people above in the pictures. How about buying every single family here some fruit bearing trees and digging a well/aquifer/reservoir for them as well? Green the Western Regions first? Ms Guo and Ms Lu, see why it’s not yet time to play MFN games?

        Reply
        • Brett Hunan
          Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 8:17 am

          Wow you sure do write a lot. This is supposed to be a fun story!!!!

          Reply
          • Anon
            Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 8:45 am

            Writing is like breathing. Also there was no other way to show regard for the children of billionaires than to harangue them with sufficiently long . . . I’ll make it fun by leaving the rest of the reply unwritten !

        • AshLikeSnow
          Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 4:59 pm

          Not sure what you meant with your whole tree thing.

          16/24 of the pictures had trees in them. Many of them with more than a few.
          Some of them didn’t have leaves – China doesn’t have as many evergreens as other parts of the world? IF you didn’t know, alot of of trees have their leaves fall off during autumn. They grown them again during spring.

          And a few of the treeless pictures had looked like they were in prairie’s. sheep – and lots of brownish grass suggest very thin soil – trees can’t grow there.

          Much of the world can’t grow trees – unless you have massive aqueducts pouring water into the soil (california). If you ever fly over the United States, much of it is brown.

          Reply
          • Anon
            Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 8:39 pm

            You mean light tan?

            Was targeting pic 1-8. And first impressions . . . you know the rest. If it was in intervals, I wouldn’t complain it was NPP (neural pictorial programming) offensive.

            Very thin soil? Well 1.3 to 3.9 billion logs (of what I won’t say) being produced daily should be reprocessed (removal of salt specifically) into something to ‘thicken’ that thin soil than being sent into the ocean to pollute with otherwise useful nitrates.

            http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/33741

            To be safe, that thickened soil needs to lay fallow for a while under the open air/sunlight and be ‘naturalized’ before use. First it was light tan and thin, then became brown and thick (or rich), then it becomes green and full of life.

            Well China? Send those ‘loads’ Westwards, the Tarim and Western Regions won’t green themselves . . .

          • AshLikeSnow
            Wednesday, August 31, 2011 at 7:17 pm

            @Anon
            Interesting. That’s the first time I ever heard of such a proposal.

            But there might be some problems with that.
            1. Is there enough rainfall in the western regions to support trees? (Basically, there are quiet a few environmental conditions that need to be met)
            2. This is China where talking about. Much of the funds spent on such a project will probably end up being skimmed off and pocketed by corrupt officials. Or squandered through inefficient management / transported to the wrong area in order to skim off transportation costs.
            3. I’m sure efforts will be better spent (cheaper and faster results) in developing more energy efficient machinery / stopping deforestation / cracking down on things that are bad for the environment (such as stopping factories from dumping toxic wastes in rivers)

      • Tengu
        Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 10:29 am

        Maybe I’m nuts, but I thought it was a creative portrait series with a gritty realness to it.

        Reply
  3. Tengu
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 1:00 am

    I’ll take the love seat!

    Reply
  4. Brett Hunan
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 1:22 am

    Living simply and simply living. Some people say there are the haves and the have nots. I look at these belongings and cannot find anything missing.

    Sometimes pictures like this make me want to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

    Reply
    • Tengu
      Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 12:34 pm

      I’ll buy you a yurt in fact and get you started on a nice goat herd, if you promise me one thing, wait until Baby Hunan graduates. I’ll toss in a few recliners, the nice ones with the cup holders, arm rests and a place to stash your Doritos.

      I think sometimes we over analyze things like this, occasionally we need to simply step back, take things at face value for what they are, not politicize them, not turn them into an ethnocentric thing, enjoy and wax rhapsodic about the possibility of another life.

      As you said:
      “I look at these belongings and cannot find anything missing.”

      Your URL shows it was a worldwide project. That family in Guadalajara looks genuinely happy.

      Love to see the entire series…have to find it.

      Thanks again for the link…

      Reply
  5. Don Tai
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 3:47 am

    They live so plainly and seem to be happy. We could learn something.

    Reply
    • Anon
      Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 6:16 am

      I don’t see how you can know that they’re happy. There are smiles for the camera, as far as I can see, and I’m sure some of them are happy/content, but I wonder just how content the people pictured basically living in the rubble of an industrial hell-hole really are.

      Reply
      • Anon
        Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 7:39 am

        All they need, is an animal skin covered Buggy with a mounted minigun to be in heaven.

        Reply
        • terroir
          Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 11:11 pm

          Whoa! There are two of them! Two Anon’s!

          Which movie is this? Is this the one where JCvD kicks his own ass, or “his name is Robert Paulson”?

          PS: love the “Mad Max” references. Looks like even though we may not need another hero, we do have another Anon!

          Reply
      • hoots
        Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 1:35 pm

        How many things do you have and need and how content or happy are you? Why assume that because they don’t have hedges and a well manicured lawn they are unhappy? What is really necessary for happiness?

        Reply
        • Anon
          Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 10:56 pm

          Some unkempt bushes and patches of grass might help though? That at least should be a given. Or would you prefer the dried skeleton and tumbleweed?

          Reply
        • terroir
          Monday, August 29, 2011 at 12:07 am

          For one of the families: a satallite TV, apparently.

          The best poor people are the ones so far below the poverty line that they don’t even know they’re poor.

          So please, gringo – poor favor – let’s not assume that they’re necessarily happy.

          Reply
          • Tengu
            Monday, August 29, 2011 at 1:28 am

            You just made a “glass half empty” rebuttal to a “glass half full” comment.

            “…let’s not assume that they’re necessarily happy.”

            “Why assume that because they don’t have hedges and a well manicured lawn they are unhappy?”

  6. wenzhouzito
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 8:03 am

    I didn’t see a single sofa…

    Reply
    • Brett Hunan
      Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 8:40 am

      Lots of TVs though. Maybe that’s where they sit?

      Reply
    • Tengu
      Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 12:22 pm

      There’s a snazzy blue one and the sweet couple by the river have some bitching recliners.

      I have a sofa, but no TV, I get all I need from a series of tubes.

      All Amerikunts aren’t materialistic…have to go polish my new gold plated mouse cover.

      Reply
  7. bobiscool
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 8:22 am

    Beautiful. I would like to live in a place like the ones above. Or maybe sit on the sofa for the first time? Maybe not.

    Reply
  8. Brett Hunan
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 8:48 am

    This is a really cool project. Some of the pictures are technically poor (white balance, every picture is centered, and some are off-center when trying to be centered) but you don’t need Chase Jarvis to make a powerful image.

    Also, not original ( http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2010/08/10/129113632/picturingpossessions ) but still cool.

    Reply
  9. Foreign Devil
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 9:01 am

    These are all a-typical dwellings. The average Chinese home would be old soviet era-cinder block apartment buildings with tiles on the outside 6- 15 stories high. The outdoor typical environment would be grey skies, sparse vegetation and either very hot or very cold.

    Reply
  10. rogerwilco
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 9:07 am

    I like the one with the three little pigs :)

    Reply
    • pervertt
      Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 2:40 pm

      And we know what happens to houses made out of straw : )

      It will be interesting to repeat this project in say 10 years time to see what sort of objects are kept in or thrown out from Chinese households.

      I can’t imagine this project being replicated in the west. Assuming you don’t get chased away for being a weirdo, it will take a whole day to empty the average house, and 2 days to put everything back to where it belongs.

      Reply
      • terroir
        Monday, August 29, 2011 at 12:13 am

        Yeah, it’s called a “lawn sale”; they don’t have them in China – no one owns anything superfluous, and no one has a lawn.

        Reply
        • Tengu
          Monday, August 29, 2011 at 1:17 am

          First hour of any Yard Sale is the neighbors you don’t even know coming over to see what sort of crap you’ve been accumulating over that past 15 years.

          Photo essay on US Yard Sales would be like an episode of “Hoarders”.

          Can’t believe you didn’t know there were two Anons, we had good fortune today, we experienced the inevitable simultaneity.

          Reply
      • Tengu
        Monday, August 29, 2011 at 1:09 am

        It’s a worldwide photo essay, there are western families that participated.

        There are links above.

        Reply
  11. A boy...
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 9:52 am

    Ahh…I love photos like these. They give some understanding of peoples’ lives…

    Reply
    • Crystal
      Monday, August 29, 2011 at 5:44 am

      Photography has a magic ability to turn almost anything into a nice scenery.
      But in real life – who would want to live like that?

      Reply
      • Tengu
        Monday, August 29, 2011 at 7:26 am

        For a lot of the worlds’s population, many of those places is an upgrade…

        Reply
        • Brett Hunan
          Monday, August 29, 2011 at 7:50 am

          Very much so. In reality I lived like that 2 years ago. I didn’t have much, but I had my tubes. Even coming from a middle-class American home, I found that it was more peaceful.

          Traveling through China and seeing that many minority villages don’t have running water or electricity, these people have it comfortable. They even have TVs.

          Reply
      • A boy...
        Monday, August 29, 2011 at 10:15 pm

        I couldn’t agree more…

        But to me photos like these are beautiful…because they give some understanding of peoples’ lives… I would like to hope it inspires some people to help those who are less fortunate than them…

        And I do like to imagine, being poor gives one some inner strength…one would be without if their life had little hardship…

        Reply
  12. eattot
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 10:39 am

    hmm, nice photos, the first several pics are really nice with this kind of colors, not very straight, very mild and old feeling.

    Reply
  13. MF
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 11:31 am

    Would like to see what top Party officials have.

    Reply
  14. nn
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 2:25 pm

    nice photo! better than ai weiwei’s art. simple but telling stories.

    Reply
  15. Young Man
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 3:59 pm

    So a bunch of old photos from cica 2005-10 is news?

    What happened tot eh fight at the basketball game? I really wanted to know what Chinese people were thinking about that and it feels like it’s being deliberately avoided.

    Reply
    • rogerwilco
      Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 5:08 pm

      My understanding is that it was the Chinese team and the Chinese fans that were attacking the visiting team.
      Avoided, blocked, censored, etc.

      Reply
    • anon
      Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 9:23 pm

      It was deliberately and mostly censored on the Chinese internet so there isn’t much online discussion by Chinese people for chinaSMACK to report on it. This is probably the best you’re going to get:

      http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2011/08/19/after-u-s-china-basketball-fracas-in-beijing-the-sound-of-silence/

      However, Western media tends to overemphasize Sina Weibo comments like they overemphasize Twitter comments but I’d say the comments mentioned in the WSJ article are fairly representative of Chinese netizens: Some nationalism but mostly a sense of embarrassment and shame.

      I liked the photos and haven’t seen them before…and you’re in the wrong place for news.

      Reply
    • terroir
      Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 11:06 pm

      “Young man, there’s no need to feel down.”

      Having news “harmonized” is a fact in China, but if there’s something you should know about Chinese is how resourceful they can be: if not from looking at these photographs and wondering how people can live on so little and still get by, then the fact that things have a way of getting out. This could be seen recently in the reported death of “River Glossy People” – Chinese people have a way, and if it isn’t Plan B, there are several other letters after that.

      “Young man， pick yourself off the ground.”

      The basketball fight isn’t really seen on teh internets, but that doesn’t mean that people are talking about it. Still, as that’s the case, it won’t be seen here as Fauna has already mentioned days upon days ago.

      As it is, I can’t help but imagine this is wishful thinking of Western netizens: such a big story and loss of face, it must be big news! But, for all the reasons, it isn’t.

      So: “young man, there’s a place you can go.
      I said, young man, when you’re short on your dough.
      You can stay there, and I’m sure you will find
      Many ways to have a good time.”

      Reply
  16. mr. wiener
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    I thought at first glance it was a collection of photos of chinese folk being evicted by their evil landlords..err, relocated by the benovolent local authorities to supperior new modern residences. I was relieved to see I was mistaken.

    Song for the article :”Grandma’s feather bed” by John Denver

    Reply
  17. Ozeki
    Sunday, August 28, 2011 at 6:50 pm

    What a philosophical photo essay…

    The photos served as questioning about possessions, family, their interaction, their meanings, which eventually lead to existential questioning.

    profoundly deep…

    Reply
  18. Li RuiKe
    Monday, August 29, 2011 at 1:02 am

    These photos lend proof that Chinese (in China) aren’t consumption-minded enough. If they would buy more stuff, the economy would be better. Thankfully, credit cards are becoming more popular here. The future looks brighter: China may soon rival heavily indebted Americans – in possession of so much stuff that they will also fill their basements, attics, garages, and rented storage units with things they will never use again. Then they too will have a strong economy. JiaYou!

    Reply
  19. Strangerland
    Monday, August 29, 2011 at 2:36 am

    Somehow the pictures make me feel sad. It reminds me that majority of people in this world still live like that- and that those who live in the better state is indeed lucky. I know that belogngings are not the measurement of someone’s happiness through life, still these images struck me with how different it was for some people.
    Nevertheless, you can’t always get what you want in life eh, and as long as you’re happy then so be it.

    Reply
  20. Peye
    Monday, August 29, 2011 at 7:23 am

    I am looking at these pictures and think: “And still the babies keep coming” , while the human race is tinkering around with balistic weapons and aircraft carriers and all the rest of the oh so usefull and important things. When will they ever learn ?

    Reply
  21. Jay
    Monday, August 29, 2011 at 11:42 am

    Nice. I like the photos.

    I’ve seen many houses like those, in my decade of living in China, but many, many, many more 6-story appartment blocks. And 24-story, and 30-story blocks, but mostly 6-story buildings, thick on the ground, like rice in a field, but red-brown instead, spreading far, and disappearing into the haze.

    Reply
  22. Daniel Ho
    Monday, August 29, 2011 at 12:15 pm

    Looks a lot like Song Dong’s “Waste Not” from 2005.
    http://leapleapleap.com/2011/07/the-wisdom-of-the-poor/
    And here http://moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/961
    (this exhibition is from 2009, but he did first start it in 2005)

    Reply
    • Ethan JRT
      Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 12:20 am

      “Waste Not” looks very cool, but with a completely different concept & presentation.

      Anyway, once in a while ChinaSmack comes out with a gem, and this is one of those times – bravo.

      Reply
  23. Kasey McQueen
    Monday, August 29, 2011 at 6:08 pm

    I love this. It’s beautiful, it’s real, it’s poignant. Bravo to the photographers.

    Reply
  24. Nikolodian
    Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 12:27 am

    Simply amazing, what a great project.
    What would it be like to live in a poor and non-materialistic society like that? I’ve had a taste of it while working in villages in Sichuan. More simple in some ways, obviously more difficult in others. Hmm I’d like to try that again.

    Reply
    • Rick in China
      Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 12:46 am

      Some people love it. Those people are Luddites.

      Most people grow addicted to technology – having so much information and communication at your fingertips.. sometimes it’s nice to “get away”, but to make it a lifestyle…well, requires a serious lack of interest to take part in ‘the world’, and while it’s a perfectly acceptable lifestyle, it’s really a choice the minority seems to want to make. Most who are living so simply just don’t have an option.

      Still nice to ‘moonlight’ the thought.

      Reply
  25. JSakamoto
    Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 3:58 am

    After the photo shoot is finished I hoped someone helped these families bring all their items back into their house.

    Reply
  26. Nicole
    Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 1:37 am

    These photos are fantastic! Is there an exhibition somewhere, or a way to get in touch with the photographers?

    Reply
  27. Soldano
    Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 10:53 pm

    Beautiful, and so inspiring. Such a wonderful work of photography. Inspiring, moving and so real, this deserves to be exposed here in Paris.

    It does what photography is supposed to do : picture a moment.
    Everything is in there. No feelings or judgement, just realities in a box.

    Contrary to others here, i don’t feel sorry for these families, i find their lifestyle inspiring. Each of them keeps a bit of history alive. That’s China, with its diversity.

    This is the life they live, wether they choose it or not, they still try to make the best out of it. Isn’t that what we all do ?

    Reply
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