Snapper’s work puts laborers in the frame

GUANGZHOU — Zhan Youbing, 47, is a brisk walker, but his gait slows to a more leisurely pace as he snaps another photo with his camera.

Ranging far and wide in search of inspiration for good new shots, Zhan has worked and lived in Chang’an township in China’s manufacturing city Dongguan, known as the “factory of the world”, for more than two decades. The industrial estate of the bustling township has been his greatest muse.

In 1995, Zhan left his hometown in Central China’s Hubei province and ventured far to the southern province of Guangdong, together with other youngsters dreaming of making their fortune in the early years of the country’s economic boom.

From inns to factories that churned out toys and electronics, Zhan had tried his hand at different jobs as a migrant worker in one of China’s booming megacities, yet he was unable to shake a sense of loss deep in his gut.

“We were like cogs in a machine on the assembly lines, only hoping that we could return home with some money to build our own house, marry and have kids,” Zhan recalls.

In 2000, he landed a job as a head of security in Chang’an, where he became enchanted by the art of photography. “When it comes to capturing the city’s industrial estate and the everyday life of my fellow workers, I know best,” Zhan says.

China’s huge crowds of migrant workers soon became the sole focus of his lens, and more than 1 million of his photos have recorded the history of the cohort, as well as the development of the country’s manufacturing industry over the years.

Though, in reality, the protagonists of Zhan’s photographs may seem like obscure dots in packed factories and dormitories, their love stories and the bittersweet details of their lives, such as their participation in talent competitions and social gatherings, are rendered vividly in Zhan’s work.

“Previously, people wouldn’t pay much attention to migrant workers unless something extraordinary happened. What I want to document is their real lives so that the stereotype associated with them, as well as the prejudice, may be changed,” Zhan says.

Over the years, Zhan has also witnessed how the city has evolved. In Dongguan, once known for its dense concentration of labor-intensive industries, automated production lines and a myriad high-tech enterprises blossomed, while long rows of workers beside production lines were giving way to robots.

“If it were not for the camera, I would have lost my job and returned to my hometown,” Zhan says. But the photos he has taken over the years have secured him a brighter future.

After gaining wide popularity on social media, his photos have been published in multiple media outlets, winning him the opportunity to hold exhibitions at home and abroad as well as awards at China’s major photography festivals.

In the meantime, Zhan has been collecting items like the employee cards and letters of migrant workers, as well as equipment that has fallen into disuse over the years. He plans to build a small museum themed around the enormous migrant population.

“If anyone in the future studies labor relations, the development of China’s manufacturing industry or that of the country, these objects and photos would help,” says Zhan.

What I want to document is their real lives so that the stereotype associated with them, as well as the prejudice, may be changed.” Zhan Youbing, migrant worker-turned-photographer