Hangzhou. Flags fly in the city. 2009

Today marks the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Here in Beijing, Tiananmen Square has become awash with parades, both military and civilian, as the populace celebrates Mao Zedong’s founding declaration, exactly 60 years ago here in China’s capital.

The build up to this event has been quite something. Beijing has come to a standstill at regular intervals over the past couple of weeks as dry-runs of today’s celebrations have taken place. Tanks have once again graced the streets of Beijing, fighter jets have zipped above the city and and army of yellow-shirted volunteers have descended on every street corner throughout the city.

In the build-up to this anniversary, I have been on assignment for Canada’s Globe and Mail, covering various facets of the country’s preparations and photographing various people who have a close connection to what the country has gone through in the last 60 years.

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CHINA. Beijing. A young girl plays in the destroyed remains of hutongs (traditional homes) in central Beijing near Tiananmen Square. The hutongs are being destroyed to make way for new developments aimed at modernising the city for the 2008 Olympic Games. 2006.

This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ was taken in 2006 as part of a story that I did on the destruction of the ‘hutongs’ of central Beijing. For those of you who aren’t aware, the hutongs are a maze-like series of homes and dwellings that used to dominate central Beijing. I say used to because many of them were destroyed in the run-up to the Olympic Games as the city strived to modernise in anticipation of all the visiting eyes that would be looking upon the city.

Whilst the hutongs were arguably a backwards way of living and inefficiently used space, they represented an relatively unchanged age of Beijing that dated back hundreds of years, even as far back as when the Mongolians ruled the capital. Controversy arose also during the destruction of the hutongs as reports emerged of forced evictions and residents not being given adequate compensation.

During my first trip to Beijing in 2005 (sponsored by a grant I received after completing my internship at Magnum Photos) and during 2006, I documented the destruction that had been taking place in the center of the city. You can view more of the images here, at the website OpenDemocracy.net.

'Mr Crazy English' (right) Li Yang, and myself after having been dragged onstage to participate in one of his classes in Beijing, whilst covering him on assignment for the Independent Magazine. 2009

I’ve had some pretty unique experiences so far working as a photographer. Last month however, I had quite a new one. Normally my style is to be as unobtrusive as possible – skirting the edges of an event, carefully shadowing a person, doing my utmost not to affect the situation which I am photographing. Whilst on assignment for the British newspaper, The Independent, I became completely and utterly part of the shoot and it wasn’t of my own accord! Let me explain…

I was on assignment to shoot a man called Li Yang, the founder of ‘Crazy English’, a unique school of English that has drawn national attention in China because its alternative teaching methods by its leader. To begin with, Li Yang’s classes normally have attendance figures in the hundreds. He teaches en masse. On the day I was shooting him, the class contained about 400-500 students, a little small according to members of Li’s entourage who told me he had just come back from teaching in a sports stadium in southern China to 10,000 people! As well as teaching en masse, Li’s style is to drive students into almost a frenzy, having them chant English sentences back to him after he reads them from his books.

So, there I was milling about the audience, trying to capture the fervour and over-excitement of many of the attendees and suddenly I caught the eye of Li Yang during a lull in his performance. Big mistake. “We have a foreign friend here with us today”, I heard Li say in Chinese to his students. “He’s a photographer”, he announced. Suddenly all 400-odd pairs of eyes were on me and my attempts at being inconspicuous were well and truly blown. I didn’t really know what to do at this point, so a polite smile and wave I thought, were the key to me being acknowledged and then ignored. No such luck. Li promptly asked his stewards to escort me onto the stage where he wanted to talk to me in-front of the students. My cover was well and truly blown.

SEE IMAGES OF A ‘CRAZY ENGLISH’ CLASS VIA MY ARCHIVE

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Please find below, a selection of images from my exhibition opening this morning in the city hall of the the city of Wulanhaote, in Inner Mongolia as part of the International Conference of Science and Technology on Desertification Control (ICSTDC). The above image is the leading shot in the exhibition.

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The opening was a great success this morning with guests to the conference taking in the exhibit before the main opening ceremony. Today consisted of opening lectures from various Chinese and International scientists. The topics were as diverse as the speakers with talks covering subjects such as the history of desertification in China, agricultural ways to combat desertification, urban desertification and alternative energy sources from the desert.

I speak tomorrow morning here at the conference, presenting my 2 years of work covering desertification in China in a presentation titled “Desertification in China: A Photographic Journey.” I shall hopefully upload images and audio tomorrow from my talk.

I hope you enjoy the images of my exhibition opening!

My 'Representative' pass for the 2nd International Conference on Science and Technology for Desertification Control (ICSTDC)

After a 19 hour train journey from Beijing, I have finally arrived in the north-eastern city of Wulanhaote in Inner Mongolia. I’m here for the next 4 days to attend the 2nd International Conference on Science & Technology for Desertification Control – a gathering of some 200 people all linked by one thing – their interest in the fight against desertification.

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Sat on the steps of a yurt, a tourist adjusts her traditional mongolian clothing. Traditional life has all but disappeared on the Inner Mongolian Grasslands, along with much of the grass in places, which has been damaged by overgrazing. 2009

This week’s ‘Photo of the Week’ was taken in Inner Mongolia earlier this year, during my 6-week trip for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. I have chosen this photo this week because on Wednesday, I am heading back to Inner Mongolia to take part in the International Conference of Science & Technology on Desertification Control. I have been invited there to speak to the 150+ scientists, experts and businessmen attending, on the subject of desertification and my coverage of the issue for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. As I type this post, I have some 50 prints being printed, all to be shown as an exhibition in Wulanhaote, where the conference is being hosted.

I am really looking forward to this conference as it will be a great opportunity to bring my photography and work on desertification to a new audience and an important one at that. As photographers, we want people to see our images. We want as many people as possible to see them. This is great, but sometimes a targeted approach is equally good. Many of China’s leading experts on desertification and environmental issues shall be at this conference, therefore I have an opportunity to emphasise to them the importance of photography and its role in communicating scientific and environmental issues to the public.

I shall be sure to post from the conference and update about some of the key issues being discussed. I shall also post images of the final hanging of the exhibition. Thanks again to all who offered advice on the hanging, both here on the blog and over at Lightstalkers.

Please click here to listen to China Radio International Interview with photographer Sean Gallagher

The above audio file is an interview that aired with China Radio International today, on the subject of desertification and my work for the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

This is the first time I have been interviewed on the radio in relation to my work for Pulitzer, however it won’t be the last as I have also been invited back for a panel discussion on Thursday 30th July which will air at 10:00 a.m. Beijing time (03:00 a.m. GMT), also on the subject of desertification. To hear that discussion, please tune in here. If you miss it, do not worry, as I shall post it onto the blog soon after.

Hope you enjoy the interview!

*Update* – P.M. Wed 8th July 2009 – A friend has recommended a proxy-server which means I can temporarily circumvent the great firewall of China. Let’s hope this last until things return to normal. Spread the word on this site, which keeps the information flowing. See you on Twiiter and FB, for now!

*Update* – A.M. Wed 8th July 2009 – Twitter continues to be blocked and now FACEBOOK is also inaccessible. To those who follow my updates through Facebook, please do not think I have disappeared. It’s just my outlets for contact are decreasing by the day! Can’t help but feel all of this just makes the ‘powers that be’ look more and more silly. A little like this.

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So, another day, another website is blocked in China.

Anyone who has spent any length of time here will know of the restrictions that are levied against the internet on a fairly regular basis. For years the BBC was well and truly blocked, rumoured to be because a BBC article made insinuations about the nocturnal private life of  a very famous former Chinese leader. Blogs are a frequent target of blocking, as they provide a venue for their users to express opinions on anything they want. Not something which is exactly encouraged here.

Twitter seems to be the new enemy here in China and one which has been noticed quickly and has become a favourite for the ‘blockers’. The ability for the instant spreading of information is quite remarkable and the evidence for which appeared on Sunday night when the events in Xinjiang took place.

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