If you have any interest in China, especially in environmental issues related to the middle kingdom, you MUST visit the website China Dialogue. Set up by leading UK journalist Isabel Hilton in 2006, the website has become one of the de-facto go-to websites for all issues covering the numerous challenges China is currently facing with the environment. What makes the site unique, besides the fact it deals exclusively with environmental issues is that it is bilingual, published in both English and Chinese Mandarin. Not only are the articles bilingual, the comments sections are also translated so that dialogue can take place between netizens from the west and those within China itself.
This week, China Dialogue has published my photo essay from my recent work on desertification in China for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. You can view the article here. Whilst I am always happy to see my work published in whatever form it may be, I am most excited when it is published in an arena that allows different potential audiences to view and understand the work, in this case, through the bilingual nature of the site.
Other sites that are trying to break the divide include the Guardian, who launched a Chinese version of their site recently. In a country where the news is essentially controlled, these few outlets are offering Chinese netizens a different view on domestic and international news.
As a photographer working in China, one of my main goals is to provide viewers of my photographs in the west, a window into life in China through my photos. It is only through responsibly informing people of what life is like here, that we can begin to understand China more and improve our relations with the country. At the same time, I want to try as much as possible to reach out to Chinese viewers too in an effort to try to offer a different view of their country that differs to Chinese photographers. On the net however, the language barrier comes into play again. The use of romanized english text for the web in the west and the use of chinese characters on the majority of chinese websites makes direct communication difficult. China Dialogue is therefore one of the leaders in this strive to bridge the divide between western and Chinese netizens, opening each side to the other.
With this dialogue comes challenges however. In July of 2008, China Dialogue published a series of photos of mine on the subject of air pollution in Beijing. At a sensitive time, just before the beginning of the Summer Olympic Games, concerns were high over the quality of the air and people were sensitive to any negative portrayals of the capital. My series sparked a fervant debate on the site between both Chinese and non-Chinese netizens, reminding us of the challenges we still face between groups who are maybe not use to communicating with each another.
Even though there are challenges, it is only through honest and open dialogue that we can strive to understand each other. The venues for this direct dialogue between China and the West may be few at the moment, but they are essential in furthering the communication between people who, I believe, are desperate to talk to and understand oneanother.
