My wish is to become an author of ‘images’ and to construct an image ‘museum’ archiving and presenting our history of today and yesterday.’ - Zeng Li

The speed of change and modernization in Mainland China over the past ten years has stunned the world. The staging of the 2008 Beijing Olympics has accelerated that momentum even more. City construction has become the order of the day, the demolition of decrepid areas of old cities and the disappearance of the traditional urban landscape providing the most visible essence of transformation. In this context, urban development becomes the vocabulary of the architectural revolution, and photography has never been so powerful. Zeng uses photography to register the dramatic changes that have swept through historic neighborhoods in the capital’s ongoing modernization campaign.

Featuring a collection of 160 works selected from over 6,000 images taken between 1997 and 2006, the photography book provides a lasting visual record of everyday urban environments in Beijing and other cities in the throes of rapid change. The hutong dwellings, standardized apartment buildings, and bustling factories of earlier decades have given way to soaring residential towers and glittering shopping malls. The publication represents a collective memory of our time of change, and promises to become an important documentation of China’s present heritage.