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Award-Winning Photojournalist Disappears In China, And Here Are 21 Of His Pics China Don’t Want You To See
Lu Guang’s photojournalism series has exposed the sides of China that its government isn’t keen on talking about drug addicts, HIV patients, environmental problems, and so on. This time, however, the famous photographer has himself become the center of a story. His wife Xu Xiaoli claims she hasn’t heard from her husband since the 3rd of November.
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On 23rd October, the photojournalist flew to Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang region, where he had planned to attend some photography events. Later, he was to fly to Sichuan to meet his friend Mr. Chen to participate in a charity event. But Mr. Chen was unable to find or contact the photographer.
Image credits: Xiaoli11032018
When Mr. Chen asked Guang’s wife about his whereabouts, she had nothing. Investigating the situation, Ms. Xu contacted the wife of the person who had invited her husband to Xinjiang. She was told both Mr. Lu and the host had been taken away by national security for allegedly being politically incorrect. Local officers from Zhejiang province, Mr. Lu’s hometown, later confirmed this.
(Worker in Wuhai City, Inner Mongolia. April 10, 2005. Image credits: Lu Guang)
“He has been lost for more than 20 days”, said his wife. “As his most direct family member, I have not received any notice of his arrest,” Ms Xu said on Twitter. “I have repeatedly contacted Xinjiang police but have been unable to get through. It is our 20th wedding anniversary [next week]. We should be celebrating it together. I can only hope for his safe return.”
(Most of the Lu Guang’s best photography reveals sad and shocking aspects of life in China, such as this heavy truck carrying coal and lime driving away, causing dust to fly and harming the nearby residents. Image credits: Lu Guang)
According to the BBC, Xinjiang has become notorious for its tight security controls, heavy surveillance, and police presence, tackling what they describe as growing radicalism among the ethnic Uighur Muslim community. The government is sensitive to criticism and has detained reporters who were investigating negative stories about China in the past.
(Eleven-year-old Xu Li of Hutsou is diagnosed with bone cancer. Image credits: Lu Guang)
“The reality in China is you never know if you’re going to get into trouble because there are no written rules,” the photographer said in an interview last year.
(Children also live in the industrial district. China is now the world’s second-largest economy. Its economic development has consumed lots of energy and generated plenty of pollution. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(On 16 July 2010, the pipeline of the Newport Oil Wharf of Dalian Bay exploded, sending lots of oil into the sea. Many fishing boats were assigned to clean up the oil contamination for 8,150 times. Image credits: Lu Guang)
The acclaimed best photographer in journalism won at the 2004 World Press Photo competition for his exposure of “AIDS villages”, where 678 people got infected with HIV after selling their blood. Out of 3,000 people, 678 have contracted HIV and 200 have died.
Image credits: Lu Guang
(A woman carrying her severely ill grandson implores the sky to prevent the devil of pain returning. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(Disabled orphans adopted by charitable farmers. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(Children with cerebral palsy licks milk powder off a bed to feed. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(Laseng Temple has an over 200-year-old history, which includes the study of Mongolian medicines. It was seriously polluted by the surrounding factories, so few pilgrims go there now. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(Many factories have been moved from the country’s east to its central and western parts. Employees work in the dust. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(The Baotou Steel plant dumps mineral processing sewage into the tailings dam. Image credits: Lu Guang)
Image credits: Lu Guang
(The chemical industrial park of Yanwei Port in the city of Lianyungang dumps sewage in the sea. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(In the jeans-producing village of Xintang Town, in Guangdong, workers gain the stone for grinding the denim every morning. Image credits: Lu Guang)
Image credits: Lu Guang
(A wife cares for her dying husband. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(Qi Guihua, held here by her husband, fell ill when she returned to the village from Beijing to celebrate the Spring Festival. She died two hours after this photograph was taken. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(Families such as this one have sold almost everything valuable in their home to help meet medical expenses. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(A young girl warms her hands in winter. Her father is infected with HIV and still cares for five children and his elderly parents. Image credits: Lu Guang)
(Two girls prepare for the funeral of their six-year-old brother, who died from AIDS. Image credits: Lu Guang)
Cédric Alviani, the director of Reporters Without Borders’ East Asia bureau, called on China to disclose where Lu is and to “guarantee journalists’ freedom of movement and security, including in Xinjiang Province.” It has not answered yet.
What do you think ?
Daria B 6 years ago (edited)
Wonder if all that waste and pollution has to do with the cheap prices for products marked "made in China". Wonder if it also has to do with multinational corporations who have their factories in China.... This, combined with a government that cares less about human right. And these are the results.
r3dd3v1lL 6 years ago
"multinational corporations" Probably this. While I'm all for a free market I think MNCs do more damage than good when they start thinking themselves above governments and reproach.
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naomi Olumbori 6 years ago
This breaks my heart to see this. It breaks my heart even more that I can't help everyone suffering.
Louise Gerathy 6 years ago
Heartbreaking doesn't even remotely describe how these photos make me feel. Being an expat living in Macau, my kids are sick a lot which I blame pollution for but this, this is just horrifying. Our pollution is minimal compared to this. What kind of world are my kids going to grow up in
Torre Sims 6 years ago
China has the manpower and resources to fix their problems. America does too, for that matter.
Stacy Smith 6 years ago
This is exactly the side effects of capitalism on steroids. I am so sick of people saying capitalism is the best thing we've got. No it's not. We need to start balancing things from the other end of the spectrum. It's the advertisers that for decades have brainwashed us into thinking we need to go into debt for a bunch of c**p we don't heed, all while coordinations all over the world are exploiting our natural resources and selling our water back to us. We need some balance of an Agrarian society where everyone can have an affordable piece of land to grow some kind of food on. Our planet and generations needs this.
Full Name 6 years ago
When China didn't embrace the West's money the country was an absolute shithole. Hundreds of millions in absolute abject poverty. Capitalism has lifted that country to an average standard of living almost unthinkable just a couple decades ago. Of course there are still insane abuses going on, but don't throw out the baby with the bathwater because China now has a real middle class when before it was mostly 3rd world. Go tell all the people there who now have reliable electricity, clean water and stable housing/food and some pocket change that you want to send them back to hell simply because not everybody else has also been lifted yet.
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tuzdayschild 6 years ago
Instead of trying to censor these photos, use what you see to improve the living conditions for your people.
Ogah Ominiabohs 6 years ago
They are speeding up in investing in renewables and in environ tech, China has grown as the no 1 country investing in sustainables. But capitalism is a monster and China has made itseld its food and tech basket. Also, suppression is still in the party blood and people like Guang who needs to do his job as a photojournalist can find it very tricky.
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Suzi Gauthier 6 years ago
This is our future, if we keep allowing multi-national corporations free reign.
Grumble O'Pug 6 years ago (edited)
Please call your representatives or senators. AiWeiWei is now out, but only because if global pressures.Lu Guang should not be forgotten
dutamulia 6 years ago
Remember guys, google is licking the butt of china's government in order gain access to the vast market.
Full Name 6 years ago
Why wouldn't they? They intrusive, untrustworthy and the do dumb s**t and then defend it like using Google Earth cars to data mine in Canada off of wireless networks, and then of course the whole James Damore goddamn fiasco. Google is absolutely evil.
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Freya the Wanderer 6 years ago
This is why you need to avoid "Made in China" as much as possible and fight multi-national trade agreements. The jobs always go to the country that has the lowest wagers and the loosest regulations.
bob 6 years ago (edited)
Yep, but some Chinese companies have understood that. More and more of them are building factories in western countries, so they can stick "Made in [good country]" on their products. You just have to see the working conditions in some factories of Prato in Italy... Basically, there are sweatshops like in China, only they can brand their products as "Made in Italy". How can you make the difference with actual Made in China stuff then? I don't know what the solution is really...
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The Girl on Fire 6 years ago
Some of the more haunting photographs I've ever seen, especially the one of the husband carrying his dying wife, and the ones of the disabled children. I never knew the conditions in China were *this* bad. I wish I could do something to help every last one of them.
Susi Karg 6 years ago
What is the topic here? The "sad and expressive pictures" and "effect of world wide economics" ? Or the fact that again a brave journalist has vanished and no one has seen him since November 3rd? Lu was invited to a meeting with photographers in Urumqi, the capital of China's remote Xinjiang province. Later he should have met friend in Sichuan province on Nov. 5, but he did not show up. #boredpanda is a strong worldwide network: and we should use it to find this man!
Bluebell Rizzi 6 years ago
Poor people, and poor man. I hope one day justice can be had for all the suffering this is causing.
Jay Woodward 6 years ago
And we plant a tree to off set our carbon footprint because of the 4x4 range rover we recently purchased. This world is f****d and the powers that run it are disgusting
cashmeremanufacturer.com 6 years ago
As a chinese, I wonder why did his wife not to call a police? Here in China, if someone is missing, we will call a police first. Why she didn't call a police, but Twitter? China is a safe place, but there is crime. What's the reason that his wife thought he was caught by the government and hope twitter could give her husband back? Strange thing~
J. Guigon 6 years ago
Maybe we should also consider not buying the cheap but plentiful clothing, toys, plastics, jewelry, seasonal decorations, etc. from Dollar stores and most of the stores in urban malls sourcing the majority of their products from China too. It's not just faceless multinational corporations...China "supplies" as the rest of us "demand". If we didn't want inexpensive, readily available stuff that fills the shelves of Walmart, (and many others) China wouldn't have a market.
Full Name 6 years ago
Unfortunately the reality is much more complicated than that. China's average standard of living has absolutely exploded to the upside since they started being the world's manufacturer. Yeah there is still a long way to go because stuff like what's in the photos still goes on, but those "evil" American corporations have lifted hundreds of millions out of dire poverty in China so to stop would be to throw them all back into poverty. There is no simple solution.
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cashmeremanufacturer.com 6 years ago
As a Chinese, especially from a poor village girl to a woman entrepreneur, I'm eternally grateful that I am a chinese. I love my country. The government is now leading us to the best life we've ever had. Please don't trust those pics. They are not real Chinese people's daily life.
Ogah Ominiabohs 6 years ago (edited)
No. Capitalism. Watch the documentary on blye jeans — as capitalist as American as you can get — and see how the Chinese worker and South Asians suffer for your comfy consumer life.
Load More Replies... Cmajor 6 years ago
This is COMMUNISM!!! When a Government has worked and taxed its own people to death.
Livy Drexler 6 years ago
This is actually capitalism, China has a free-market economy but their nation is basically run by a dictator. If it was a communistic system you wouldn’t see so much inequality. There are extremly wealthy Chinese business moguls, but there are also extremely impovershed industrial workers and peasants.
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RavenPuffPanda 5 years ago
I'm really worried about this post, because the main Chinese political party won't allow us to use websites that write bad things about China ( Google, Youtube, Wattpad, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook etc. ) And if the internet police find this post, they will also ban Bored Panda.
RavenPuffPanda 5 years ago
And also, the roads are also really poorly designed. Some of them don't have that red person, green person for people to walk past the road. So it is like a 80% that you can get hit by a car or something. And there are like, a lot of cars there. Like, 3x Canada's cars.
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Anthony Jessie 6 years ago
Won day a Photojournalist will disappear in the good ol USA and expose all the issues that we have but personally are dismissed....
Eric James 6 years ago
So how did we get these pictures if he came up missing? What would be the point of “getting rid of him” AFTER releasing the photos? Redundant no?
Daniel Yuhasz 6 years ago
And almost everything we buy at Walmart is made in China but all people can do is criticize Trump for trying to change things. he is trying to re-negotiate trade so it is fair to the Americans- when we buy Chinese we support the bad conditions these people work in while causing the loss of our good jobs. Our news media is owned by the elite who put this in motion.
Jillian Li 6 years ago
They haven't censored it, I don't see why everyone is freaking out. There's pictures like this all the time taken in China. It's only all of the sudden it's a big issue because "apparently" he's missing and everyone thinks the government is in on it. Everyone calm your s**t, no country is perfect.
Ogah Ominiabohs 6 years ago
His pics are here: https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1551307101177748&wfr=spider&for=pc. I believed the part of his missing, but I see this Twitter / panda thing maybe propaganda. A really Chinophobic, antiChinese Nigerian woman led me here with her usual posts about China but neve4 Europe or America. Tell your govt to stop giving money to Africa.. Trust me.
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Lizzie Tang 6 years ago
Every country, i can take pictures like that. China is working on pollution now. it is the cost of the economic growth. western countries went through that phase as well. Every country has a developing process. China is transitioning.
Louise Brigance 6 years ago
In order for China to be a world industrial giant and have so much trading power there is a hidden cost and in this story it's truly hidden. The government can't afford to have the plight of these people known to the world. It certainly reflects badly on a country trying to be a world power that they ignore the suffering and death among these people.
Mary-Jane Garnett 6 years ago (edited)
If you ever get a chance to see the documentary, River Blue, which covers blue jean and leather factories in China and a couple of other 3rd world countries, be sure to watch it. It is shocking to see the health and environmental issues caused by these industries so we can buy cheap jeans and leather goods.
cashmeremanufacturer.com 6 years ago
I was born in a small china village, which is marked as underdeveloped area of china. I had never seen such a terrible site. Actually, the government is closing down all kinds of factories that are not good for the environment every day. Some of my peasant classmates who didn't go to college can get poverty alleviation subsidies every month.
Sienna Thomas 6 years ago (edited)
here are all his pics, Not only because of environmental pollution... https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1551307101177748&wfr=spider&for=pc
Gillian Black 6 years ago
isn't it time all our governments realized what is going on and how these people are treated, everything you buy now is made in China time to do something but what we all need to put our head together and think,
KT Trondsen 6 years ago
This is absolutely horrendous!! How can they do this to their own people? The amount of suffering shown here is unacceptable! Is this part of the "made in china" labels I see on everything? The cost of business making things cheap for first world countries?? How can our leaders allow for this knowing this is the true price!?
Captain Planet 6 years ago
Would it be less horrendous if they weren't their own people? :/
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Han 6 years ago
Look up the Christmas ornament factories! And then be mindful of buying new decorations. Make some or get them from op shops. #whereislu
KT Trondsen 6 years ago
I've bought ornaments from a shop that sells handmade ones where the artisans get paid almost everything for each ornament, they cost me $25 to 40 each
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Hendra Lim 6 years ago
too much people always means more pains for both the people and the earth. so sad :(
Xiaolaohu 6 years ago
The population size is irrelevant to this level of pollution. The government simply doesn't care to regulate big industry and China has unfortunately always considered the "peasant" class as expendable, almost as "untouchables".
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Shimen Miyamoto Musashi 5 years ago
Multi-national corporations invest in China by sending their factories over there because of cheap labor. And China love them because they don't have to send agents to copy products of these companies. Five or more Chinese 'professionals , technical or even skilled' personnel working in these companies could be economic spies spying for China. Who would suspect eh? Look, China almost has every thing copied and are now competing against the products made by these foreign companies that are now basing their productions in that country. How convenient.
Linda McDonald Cairns 5 years ago (edited)
This is horrific! This is why China can afford to manufacture cheap goods to fulfil the frivolous predilections of the insatiable West. Its on the broken backs of these poor people.It's time for a new way of thinking and buying!
Linda McDonald Cairns 5 years ago
This is the price the Chinese have to pay for our frivolous luxury goods. It is horrific.
Nathan Dunning 5 years ago
People wonder why we don't want China taking over our nations. Heaven forbid we too fall under the Reign of such Tyrants. I would just like to say to my Chinese brothers & Sisters that Jesus Christ died for them too. & they can give their lives to the messiah and have eternal Life in Peace. One day all this pain will be in the past.
Mary Cabaluna Salmasan 5 years ago
I'm worried about the people and the pollution😭😭😭 it hurts that I can't do anything
Blue-eyes sage 5 years ago
So that why china wanted west philippine sea so badly, china is pretty f****d up. the government are doing nothing for their people, this ambitions or whatever are total BS!
Aly Evangelista 5 years ago
It's been nine months... I wonder if he has returned to his wife, or was killed by the government...
Rolento Ong 5 years ago
Many people said they will try to buy things NOT made in china, but to be honest. you simply can't. it is so hard to find any product now that does not have any raw materials, chemicals, etc from china. Not to mention there are fake "make in XXX" products. all they have to do, is have everything made in china, shipped them to america or europe to have it assembled or packed and ship out from there. the higher sales price justify this extra step.
Roselynne Lopez 6 years ago
And all in the name of profit and getting ahead of everyone!!! Humanity and the environment takes a backseat for this communist regime! The International Humanitarian Commission should have done something, but I guess China had already become too strong because they greatly invested on their military and arsenals, rather than the upliftment of livelihood of its entire populace. The other people from around the world should be concerned with what China is doing to the environment and even its own people. For my part, I will just refrain from buying products made in China.
Kimberly Genereux 6 years ago
Note to Bored Panda: Title Use doesn't not don't. Bad grammar gives off a fake news vibe!
Jacqueline Lavanchy 6 years ago
This is dreadful...all my sympathy to his wife...I hope that he is still alive. Let's pray for him and do whatever is possible to find him. Is there a petition or an NGO's looking for him ? Please let us know !
Lyone Fein 6 years ago
These are the real costs of all that cheap stuff "made in China". So much for communism!
Chrissy Rotharmel 6 years ago
and how many die to make the b******e in chiefs ugly neckties and shirts????
Trevor Dennis 6 years ago
You have to wonder at the hypocrisy of China accusing the USA of human rights violations over their arrest of the Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou, when they routinely make dissenters disappear and say nothing. Add to that their disregard for ordinary Chinese people, and the damage they are doing to the planet. It does not bode well for the future.
Irene Walton 6 years ago
What a great photographer! So so heartbreaking, our government is worried about plastic straws, when this has got to be helped NOW! Somehow......
Jovy Jergens 6 years ago
Is there no horror too great to endure for these suffering people. It's like something out of the Dark Ages, yet THEIR lives, miserable as they were, were nothing as awful as this. I did not know such torment was possible in a supposedly "civilized" country.
Kim Lorton 6 years ago
I think, China is not being honest about how the country works, and the world’s scene for business, on the way to wanting to become a major player, let’s its citizens die, for the almighty dollar, yen, or businesses to succeed, however and whatever they have to do, to get it. Even poor manufacturing things that come to the USA , and contaminating our citizens. I just remember the time, kids toys and play jewelry, were made with cadmium, a heavy metal that could poison and kill people. Why use it? Cheap, don’t care, they have cornered the market as being unreputable. Dishonoring the Chinese heritage of our wonderful Chinese American citizens here.
Anna Salerno 6 years ago
Oh my Lord, these pictures of human suffering breaks my heart beyond belief! The reality of the people who have no voice in what happens to them is truly gut wrenching at best. I start every day with gratitude for the little comfort I have. Now I will pray for these people and their human suffering as well. I detest buying anything made in China simply because they do not have the same standards as we here in the USA and I don't trust them. Now more than ever. God bless these suffering people.
Kunsang Dorjee 6 years ago
Very sad photo in China still more than that I believe,wake up world leaders and UNO members,please be careful of fake smile of Chinese leader,how could be China will lead the World majors democratic Nation?
Ish Quintana 6 years ago
The outside world has so much pain and 😢 sadness. We must never take our blessings for granted. To assume it’s nothing, shows we’re not aware of the whole picture. No pun intended.
Lacey Heward 6 years ago
I am heart broken looking at these images. I want to know more! What is being done about the people infected with HIV after giving or selling blood? Is there any justice? Sometimes this world makes me so angry and sick!!!
Maria Filomena Nunes 6 years ago
...on the other end you have China´s president visiting Lisbon and renting the RITZ Hotel closing it completely and paying 2million euros for 2 days. Surely spending money he didn´t work for and that should be used otherwise.
Bianca LY Sondaix 6 years ago
Terrible... These pictures are heartbreakers. Can anyone start a petition maybe to save the photographer ?! And then when this photographer will be saved, we could help save at least some one else, and so on...
Pretty Pangolin 6 years ago
Well now there's a trip through Hell. I can't say I wasn't warned, though. I hope he reappears OK.
Narigele Narigele 6 years ago
Many pictures are about the environment of Inner Mongolia. My poor hometown.
Colleen Teresa Wolfe 6 years ago
Eye opener not sure why there is not more information or investagation into this. This not only effects the people of china it also effects the whole world.
Rio Lalaine Lorica 6 years ago
This is why gusto tayong sakupin ng China, mayaman tayo sa natural resources, conservative tayo sa environment, marami tayong virgin islands and mountains, malinis ang tubig-dagat natin at kapag wala tayo sa syudad hindi tayo stress sa pollution 😭 Walang kinalaman ang Meteor Garden Chinese Version pero bakit support pa rin kayo kahit binababoy na tayo ng China? 😭😭😭💔💔
Glynis Lailann 6 years ago
This is what good photographic journalists do - tell true life stories with all its nitty gritties without fear or favour. I sincerely hope he is found.
Stacy Smith 6 years ago
Jesus. This man paid for his soul to shed light on the truth about the vulnerable and castaways of society. They exist in every society. All this suffering. I feel so blessed for my family.
Alex Craig 6 years ago
This is so confronting, disturbing and tragic. You could actually believe these photos were from decades past not in the current year. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Elizabeth Gardner 6 years ago
I knew it was bad but I never imagined it was this bad. For gods sake cannot something be done for these people? they are dying like flies they have nothing and those that work are working to death literally. I will never buy anything Chinese ever again.Sweat shops are bad enough but this is beyond the realm of humanity
Bao Lau Oh 6 years ago
If you want to see the China you see in old movies....come to Taiwan. Taiwan is the REAL China.....and China...is just a corporate s**t hole.
Rachael Shirkey-Snee 6 years ago
This makes me so sad and sick to my stomach for the photographer and the people he photographed. Imagine everything he WASNT able to take pics of? So much suffering in one the the richest countries. Absolutely heartbreaking
Gabriela VK 6 years ago
his images are from the Apocalypse!!! no wonder China's govt doesn't want him around. Not only are his contributions amazing they also give us a glimpse of what regulations do for us!
Ute Windrath 6 years ago
can't say i like it cause it's horrible. today there are " menschenrechte" in the news- nothing to see about in this pictures. and i'm worried about the photographer
Valerie Lessard 6 years ago
yes . china is a single entity in this context, presumably the government, so it's supposed to be Doesn't want, not Don't want.
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Pike Robertson 6 years ago
Remember, Google is sucking up to this government and censoring itself to please the repressive Chinese regime. Nike is also getting shoes from China using slave labor. A few months ago, the left adored them for making Colin Kaeperinick their spokesperson. Plus Tim Cook of Apple is lecturing the US on "hate speech", but hasn't said a word about China's horrible record on the silencing of dissidents, the use of slave labor, and the environmental pollution. Corporation are NOT your friend. They give the left PC crumbs while destroying the environment and propping up repressive regimes like in China.
Pike Robertson 6 years ago
This is the stuff leftists should get angry about. But what do they get pissed off about in the US? Baby It's Cold Outside, a 70 year old song.
Santino Marazzo 6 years ago
The leader of the chinese people should be held accountable . He and the rest of his cronies should be put in prison. This is truly a disgusting way to treat these suffering people.
Cassandra Reid 6 years ago
This explains why China is going so hard core into Africa. They are destroying their own country.
Myriam Ickx 6 years ago
Seems it's becoming a bad habit of people being "disappeared" in China without reason or explanation... The pictures are at the same time hideous and heart-wrenching, and displays an abysmal lack of interest of the authorities for the welfare of the people or the environment preservation... Incredible to think some people have to live in such filth.
Sarah Sutherland 6 years ago
Do bear in mind that although a label may say "Made in USA" or Made in Britain - it doesn't mean the entire process is completed there. Only Italy as far as I'm aware is 100% guaranteed to be made in Italy. Regulation In 2009, the Italian law stated that only products totally made in Italy (planning, manufacturing and packaging) are allowed to use the labels Made in Italy, Each abuse is punished by the Italian law.[6] Compared with "Made in Germany" ('all essential manufacturing steps') Controversy Italian companies, mostly owned by Chinese people resident in Italy or immigrate, have used Chinese labor to cut down on costs and still produce “Made in Italy” items. some food for thought. Buy handmade and local :-)
Tracey Darling 6 years ago
China would guiltlessly consume the entire planet for profit if it could. What an evil country it is.
Marlyn Baon 6 years ago
I believe China will do anything to become the world's richest regardless of the inhumane conditions of its people. A Godless society.
Valerie Lessard 6 years ago
the abuses of industry are squarely on the shoulders of crapitalism
Load More Replies... bob 6 years ago
How can you advertise your company here? How? Have you no empathy? And to accuse the photographer at the same time. You really are a psychopath...
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Valerie Lessard 6 years ago
pollution is partly due to the industrial waste produced by multinational factories using china's cheap labour. china has very little regulation in this regard, and corporations like it that way. so yeah, criticising america is a good start if you do want to look at this part of the world. countries like china, india and bangladesh also get sent plastic and electronic waste to sort and "recycle" (reuse salvageable components to make even cheaper electronic products) the rest being often melted down, making everybody sick including the women and children usually "employed" to do this work. this is not a usa only problem, but they're all in it together.
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Anna Lourie 6 years ago
do you think boredpanda is a USA-thing? for me (from germany) I had no thought about political stuff, but only thought about those poor lives, which are captured in these photos. Sometimes things can be said, without having a political context.
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Daria B 6 years ago (edited)
Wonder if all that waste and pollution has to do with the cheap prices for products marked "made in China". Wonder if it also has to do with multinational corporations who have their factories in China.... This, combined with a government that cares less about human right. And these are the results.
r3dd3v1lL 6 years ago
"multinational corporations" Probably this. While I'm all for a free market I think MNCs do more damage than good when they start thinking themselves above governments and reproach.
Load More Replies... naomi Olumbori 6 years ago
This breaks my heart to see this. It breaks my heart even more that I can't help everyone suffering.
Louise Gerathy 6 years ago
Heartbreaking doesn't even remotely describe how these photos make me feel. Being an expat living in Macau, my kids are sick a lot which I blame pollution for but this, this is just horrifying. Our pollution is minimal compared to this. What kind of world are my kids going to grow up in
Torre Sims 6 years ago
China has the manpower and resources to fix their problems. America does too, for that matter.
Stacy Smith 6 years ago
This is exactly the side effects of capitalism on steroids. I am so sick of people saying capitalism is the best thing we've got. No it's not. We need to start balancing things from the other end of the spectrum. It's the advertisers that for decades have brainwashed us into thinking we need to go into debt for a bunch of c**p we don't heed, all while coordinations all over the world are exploiting our natural resources and selling our water back to us. We need some balance of an Agrarian society where everyone can have an affordable piece of land to grow some kind of food on. Our planet and generations needs this.
Full Name 6 years ago
When China didn't embrace the West's money the country was an absolute shithole. Hundreds of millions in absolute abject poverty. Capitalism has lifted that country to an average standard of living almost unthinkable just a couple decades ago. Of course there are still insane abuses going on, but don't throw out the baby with the bathwater because China now has a real middle class when before it was mostly 3rd world. Go tell all the people there who now have reliable electricity, clean water and stable housing/food and some pocket change that you want to send them back to hell simply because not everybody else has also been lifted yet.
Load More Replies... tuzdayschild 6 years ago
Instead of trying to censor these photos, use what you see to improve the living conditions for your people.
Ogah Ominiabohs 6 years ago
They are speeding up in investing in renewables and in environ tech, China has grown as the no 1 country investing in sustainables. But capitalism is a monster and China has made itseld its food and tech basket. Also, suppression is still in the party blood and people like Guang who needs to do his job as a photojournalist can find it very tricky.
Load More Replies... Suzi Gauthier 6 years ago
This is our future, if we keep allowing multi-national corporations free reign.
Grumble O'Pug 6 years ago (edited)
Please call your representatives or senators. AiWeiWei is now out, but only because if global pressures.Lu Guang should not be forgotten
dutamulia 6 years ago
Remember guys, google is licking the butt of china's government in order gain access to the vast market.
Full Name 6 years ago
Why wouldn't they? They intrusive, untrustworthy and the do dumb s**t and then defend it like using Google Earth cars to data mine in Canada off of wireless networks, and then of course the whole James Damore goddamn fiasco. Google is absolutely evil.
Load More Replies... Freya the Wanderer 6 years ago
This is why you need to avoid "Made in China" as much as possible and fight multi-national trade agreements. The jobs always go to the country that has the lowest wagers and the loosest regulations.
bob 6 years ago (edited)
Yep, but some Chinese companies have understood that. More and more of them are building factories in western countries, so they can stick "Made in [good country]" on their products. You just have to see the working conditions in some factories of Prato in Italy... Basically, there are sweatshops like in China, only they can brand their products as "Made in Italy". How can you make the difference with actual Made in China stuff then? I don't know what the solution is really...
Load More Replies... The Girl on Fire 6 years ago
Some of the more haunting photographs I've ever seen, especially the one of the husband carrying his dying wife, and the ones of the disabled children. I never knew the conditions in China were *this* bad. I wish I could do something to help every last one of them.
Susi Karg 6 years ago
What is the topic here? The "sad and expressive pictures" and "effect of world wide economics" ? Or the fact that again a brave journalist has vanished and no one has seen him since November 3rd? Lu was invited to a meeting with photographers in Urumqi, the capital of China's remote Xinjiang province. Later he should have met friend in Sichuan province on Nov. 5, but he did not show up. #boredpanda is a strong worldwide network: and we should use it to find this man!
Bluebell Rizzi 6 years ago
Poor people, and poor man. I hope one day justice can be had for all the suffering this is causing.
Jay Woodward 6 years ago
And we plant a tree to off set our carbon footprint because of the 4x4 range rover we recently purchased. This world is f****d and the powers that run it are disgusting
cashmeremanufacturer.com 6 years ago
As a chinese, I wonder why did his wife not to call a police? Here in China, if someone is missing, we will call a police first. Why she didn't call a police, but Twitter? China is a safe place, but there is crime. What's the reason that his wife thought he was caught by the government and hope twitter could give her husband back? Strange thing~
J. Guigon 6 years ago
Maybe we should also consider not buying the cheap but plentiful clothing, toys, plastics, jewelry, seasonal decorations, etc. from Dollar stores and most of the stores in urban malls sourcing the majority of their products from China too. It's not just faceless multinational corporations...China "supplies" as the rest of us "demand". If we didn't want inexpensive, readily available stuff that fills the shelves of Walmart, (and many others) China wouldn't have a market.
Full Name 6 years ago
Unfortunately the reality is much more complicated than that. China's average standard of living has absolutely exploded to the upside since they started being the world's manufacturer. Yeah there is still a long way to go because stuff like what's in the photos still goes on, but those "evil" American corporations have lifted hundreds of millions out of dire poverty in China so to stop would be to throw them all back into poverty. There is no simple solution.
Load More Replies... cashmeremanufacturer.com 6 years ago
As a Chinese, especially from a poor village girl to a woman entrepreneur, I'm eternally grateful that I am a chinese. I love my country. The government is now leading us to the best life we've ever had. Please don't trust those pics. They are not real Chinese people's daily life.
Ogah Ominiabohs 6 years ago (edited)
No. Capitalism. Watch the documentary on blye jeans — as capitalist as American as you can get — and see how the Chinese worker and South Asians suffer for your comfy consumer life.
Load More Replies... Cmajor 6 years ago
This is COMMUNISM!!! When a Government has worked and taxed its own people to death.
Livy Drexler 6 years ago
This is actually capitalism, China has a free-market economy but their nation is basically run by a dictator. If it was a communistic system you wouldn’t see so much inequality. There are extremly wealthy Chinese business moguls, but there are also extremely impovershed industrial workers and peasants.
Load More Replies... RavenPuffPanda 5 years ago
I'm really worried about this post, because the main Chinese political party won't allow us to use websites that write bad things about China ( Google, Youtube, Wattpad, Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook etc. ) And if the internet police find this post, they will also ban Bored Panda.
RavenPuffPanda 5 years ago
And also, the roads are also really poorly designed. Some of them don't have that red person, green person for people to walk past the road. So it is like a 80% that you can get hit by a car or something. And there are like, a lot of cars there. Like, 3x Canada's cars.
Load More Replies... Anthony Jessie 6 years ago
Won day a Photojournalist will disappear in the good ol USA and expose all the issues that we have but personally are dismissed....
Eric James 6 years ago
So how did we get these pictures if he came up missing? What would be the point of “getting rid of him” AFTER releasing the photos? Redundant no?
Daniel Yuhasz 6 years ago
And almost everything we buy at Walmart is made in China but all people can do is criticize Trump for trying to change things. he is trying to re-negotiate trade so it is fair to the Americans- when we buy Chinese we support the bad conditions these people work in while causing the loss of our good jobs. Our news media is owned by the elite who put this in motion.
Jillian Li 6 years ago
They haven't censored it, I don't see why everyone is freaking out. There's pictures like this all the time taken in China. It's only all of the sudden it's a big issue because "apparently" he's missing and everyone thinks the government is in on it. Everyone calm your s**t, no country is perfect.
Ogah Ominiabohs 6 years ago
His pics are here: https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1551307101177748&wfr=spider&for=pc. I believed the part of his missing, but I see this Twitter / panda thing maybe propaganda. A really Chinophobic, antiChinese Nigerian woman led me here with her usual posts about China but neve4 Europe or America. Tell your govt to stop giving money to Africa.. Trust me.
Load More Replies... Lizzie Tang 6 years ago
Every country, i can take pictures like that. China is working on pollution now. it is the cost of the economic growth. western countries went through that phase as well. Every country has a developing process. China is transitioning.
Louise Brigance 6 years ago
In order for China to be a world industrial giant and have so much trading power there is a hidden cost and in this story it's truly hidden. The government can't afford to have the plight of these people known to the world. It certainly reflects badly on a country trying to be a world power that they ignore the suffering and death among these people.
Mary-Jane Garnett 6 years ago (edited)
If you ever get a chance to see the documentary, River Blue, which covers blue jean and leather factories in China and a couple of other 3rd world countries, be sure to watch it. It is shocking to see the health and environmental issues caused by these industries so we can buy cheap jeans and leather goods.
cashmeremanufacturer.com 6 years ago
I was born in a small china village, which is marked as underdeveloped area of china. I had never seen such a terrible site. Actually, the government is closing down all kinds of factories that are not good for the environment every day. Some of my peasant classmates who didn't go to college can get poverty alleviation subsidies every month.
Sienna Thomas 6 years ago (edited)
here are all his pics, Not only because of environmental pollution... https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1551307101177748&wfr=spider&for=pc
Gillian Black 6 years ago
isn't it time all our governments realized what is going on and how these people are treated, everything you buy now is made in China time to do something but what we all need to put our head together and think,
KT Trondsen 6 years ago
This is absolutely horrendous!! How can they do this to their own people? The amount of suffering shown here is unacceptable! Is this part of the "made in china" labels I see on everything? The cost of business making things cheap for first world countries?? How can our leaders allow for this knowing this is the true price!?
Captain Planet 6 years ago
Would it be less horrendous if they weren't their own people? :/
Load More Replies... Han 6 years ago
Look up the Christmas ornament factories! And then be mindful of buying new decorations. Make some or get them from op shops. #whereislu
KT Trondsen 6 years ago
I've bought ornaments from a shop that sells handmade ones where the artisans get paid almost everything for each ornament, they cost me $25 to 40 each
Load More Replies... Hendra Lim 6 years ago
too much people always means more pains for both the people and the earth. so sad :(
Xiaolaohu 6 years ago
The population size is irrelevant to this level of pollution. The government simply doesn't care to regulate big industry and China has unfortunately always considered the "peasant" class as expendable, almost as "untouchables".
Load More Replies... Shimen Miyamoto Musashi 5 years ago
Multi-national corporations invest in China by sending their factories over there because of cheap labor. And China love them because they don't have to send agents to copy products of these companies. Five or more Chinese 'professionals , technical or even skilled' personnel working in these companies could be economic spies spying for China. Who would suspect eh? Look, China almost has every thing copied and are now competing against the products made by these foreign companies that are now basing their productions in that country. How convenient.
Linda McDonald Cairns 5 years ago (edited)
This is horrific! This is why China can afford to manufacture cheap goods to fulfil the frivolous predilections of the insatiable West. Its on the broken backs of these poor people.It's time for a new way of thinking and buying!
Linda McDonald Cairns 5 years ago
This is the price the Chinese have to pay for our frivolous luxury goods. It is horrific.
Nathan Dunning 5 years ago
People wonder why we don't want China taking over our nations. Heaven forbid we too fall under the Reign of such Tyrants. I would just like to say to my Chinese brothers & Sisters that Jesus Christ died for them too. & they can give their lives to the messiah and have eternal Life in Peace. One day all this pain will be in the past.
Mary Cabaluna Salmasan 5 years ago
I'm worried about the people and the pollution😭😭😭 it hurts that I can't do anything
Blue-eyes sage 5 years ago
So that why china wanted west philippine sea so badly, china is pretty f****d up. the government are doing nothing for their people, this ambitions or whatever are total BS!
Aly Evangelista 5 years ago
It's been nine months... I wonder if he has returned to his wife, or was killed by the government...
Rolento Ong 5 years ago
Many people said they will try to buy things NOT made in china, but to be honest. you simply can't. it is so hard to find any product now that does not have any raw materials, chemicals, etc from china. Not to mention there are fake "make in XXX" products. all they have to do, is have everything made in china, shipped them to america or europe to have it assembled or packed and ship out from there. the higher sales price justify this extra step.
Roselynne Lopez 6 years ago
And all in the name of profit and getting ahead of everyone!!! Humanity and the environment takes a backseat for this communist regime! The International Humanitarian Commission should have done something, but I guess China had already become too strong because they greatly invested on their military and arsenals, rather than the upliftment of livelihood of its entire populace. The other people from around the world should be concerned with what China is doing to the environment and even its own people. For my part, I will just refrain from buying products made in China.
Kimberly Genereux 6 years ago
Note to Bored Panda: Title Use doesn't not don't. Bad grammar gives off a fake news vibe!
Jacqueline Lavanchy 6 years ago
This is dreadful...all my sympathy to his wife...I hope that he is still alive. Let's pray for him and do whatever is possible to find him. Is there a petition or an NGO's looking for him ? Please let us know !
Lyone Fein 6 years ago
These are the real costs of all that cheap stuff "made in China". So much for communism!
Chrissy Rotharmel 6 years ago
and how many die to make the b******e in chiefs ugly neckties and shirts????
Trevor Dennis 6 years ago
You have to wonder at the hypocrisy of China accusing the USA of human rights violations over their arrest of the Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou, when they routinely make dissenters disappear and say nothing. Add to that their disregard for ordinary Chinese people, and the damage they are doing to the planet. It does not bode well for the future.
Irene Walton 6 years ago
What a great photographer! So so heartbreaking, our government is worried about plastic straws, when this has got to be helped NOW! Somehow......
Jovy Jergens 6 years ago
Is there no horror too great to endure for these suffering people. It's like something out of the Dark Ages, yet THEIR lives, miserable as they were, were nothing as awful as this. I did not know such torment was possible in a supposedly "civilized" country.
Kim Lorton 6 years ago
I think, China is not being honest about how the country works, and the world’s scene for business, on the way to wanting to become a major player, let’s its citizens die, for the almighty dollar, yen, or businesses to succeed, however and whatever they have to do, to get it. Even poor manufacturing things that come to the USA , and contaminating our citizens. I just remember the time, kids toys and play jewelry, were made with cadmium, a heavy metal that could poison and kill people. Why use it? Cheap, don’t care, they have cornered the market as being unreputable. Dishonoring the Chinese heritage of our wonderful Chinese American citizens here.
Anna Salerno 6 years ago
Oh my Lord, these pictures of human suffering breaks my heart beyond belief! The reality of the people who have no voice in what happens to them is truly gut wrenching at best. I start every day with gratitude for the little comfort I have. Now I will pray for these people and their human suffering as well. I detest buying anything made in China simply because they do not have the same standards as we here in the USA and I don't trust them. Now more than ever. God bless these suffering people.
Kunsang Dorjee 6 years ago
Very sad photo in China still more than that I believe,wake up world leaders and UNO members,please be careful of fake smile of Chinese leader,how could be China will lead the World majors democratic Nation?
Ish Quintana 6 years ago
The outside world has so much pain and 😢 sadness. We must never take our blessings for granted. To assume it’s nothing, shows we’re not aware of the whole picture. No pun intended.
Lacey Heward 6 years ago
I am heart broken looking at these images. I want to know more! What is being done about the people infected with HIV after giving or selling blood? Is there any justice? Sometimes this world makes me so angry and sick!!!
Maria Filomena Nunes 6 years ago
...on the other end you have China´s president visiting Lisbon and renting the RITZ Hotel closing it completely and paying 2million euros for 2 days. Surely spending money he didn´t work for and that should be used otherwise.
Bianca LY Sondaix 6 years ago
Terrible... These pictures are heartbreakers. Can anyone start a petition maybe to save the photographer ?! And then when this photographer will be saved, we could help save at least some one else, and so on...
Pretty Pangolin 6 years ago
Well now there's a trip through Hell. I can't say I wasn't warned, though. I hope he reappears OK.
Narigele Narigele 6 years ago
Many pictures are about the environment of Inner Mongolia. My poor hometown.
Colleen Teresa Wolfe 6 years ago
Eye opener not sure why there is not more information or investagation into this. This not only effects the people of china it also effects the whole world.
Rio Lalaine Lorica 6 years ago
This is why gusto tayong sakupin ng China, mayaman tayo sa natural resources, conservative tayo sa environment, marami tayong virgin islands and mountains, malinis ang tubig-dagat natin at kapag wala tayo sa syudad hindi tayo stress sa pollution 😭 Walang kinalaman ang Meteor Garden Chinese Version pero bakit support pa rin kayo kahit binababoy na tayo ng China? 😭😭😭💔💔
Glynis Lailann 6 years ago
This is what good photographic journalists do - tell true life stories with all its nitty gritties without fear or favour. I sincerely hope he is found.
Stacy Smith 6 years ago
Jesus. This man paid for his soul to shed light on the truth about the vulnerable and castaways of society. They exist in every society. All this suffering. I feel so blessed for my family.
Alex Craig 6 years ago
This is so confronting, disturbing and tragic. You could actually believe these photos were from decades past not in the current year. Absolutely heartbreaking.
Elizabeth Gardner 6 years ago
I knew it was bad but I never imagined it was this bad. For gods sake cannot something be done for these people? they are dying like flies they have nothing and those that work are working to death literally. I will never buy anything Chinese ever again.Sweat shops are bad enough but this is beyond the realm of humanity
Bao Lau Oh 6 years ago
If you want to see the China you see in old movies....come to Taiwan. Taiwan is the REAL China.....and China...is just a corporate s**t hole.
Rachael Shirkey-Snee 6 years ago
This makes me so sad and sick to my stomach for the photographer and the people he photographed. Imagine everything he WASNT able to take pics of? So much suffering in one the the richest countries. Absolutely heartbreaking
Gabriela VK 6 years ago
his images are from the Apocalypse!!! no wonder China's govt doesn't want him around. Not only are his contributions amazing they also give us a glimpse of what regulations do for us!
Ute Windrath 6 years ago
can't say i like it cause it's horrible. today there are " menschenrechte" in the news- nothing to see about in this pictures. and i'm worried about the photographer
Valerie Lessard 6 years ago
yes . china is a single entity in this context, presumably the government, so it's supposed to be Doesn't want, not Don't want.
Load More Replies... Pike Robertson 6 years ago
Remember, Google is sucking up to this government and censoring itself to please the repressive Chinese regime. Nike is also getting shoes from China using slave labor. A few months ago, the left adored them for making Colin Kaeperinick their spokesperson. Plus Tim Cook of Apple is lecturing the US on "hate speech", but hasn't said a word about China's horrible record on the silencing of dissidents, the use of slave labor, and the environmental pollution. Corporation are NOT your friend. They give the left PC crumbs while destroying the environment and propping up repressive regimes like in China.
Pike Robertson 6 years ago
This is the stuff leftists should get angry about. But what do they get pissed off about in the US? Baby It's Cold Outside, a 70 year old song.
Santino Marazzo 6 years ago
The leader of the chinese people should be held accountable . He and the rest of his cronies should be put in prison. This is truly a disgusting way to treat these suffering people.
Cassandra Reid 6 years ago
This explains why China is going so hard core into Africa. They are destroying their own country.
Myriam Ickx 6 years ago
Seems it's becoming a bad habit of people being "disappeared" in China without reason or explanation... The pictures are at the same time hideous and heart-wrenching, and displays an abysmal lack of interest of the authorities for the welfare of the people or the environment preservation... Incredible to think some people have to live in such filth.
Sarah Sutherland 6 years ago
Do bear in mind that although a label may say "Made in USA" or Made in Britain - it doesn't mean the entire process is completed there. Only Italy as far as I'm aware is 100% guaranteed to be made in Italy. Regulation In 2009, the Italian law stated that only products totally made in Italy (planning, manufacturing and packaging) are allowed to use the labels Made in Italy, Each abuse is punished by the Italian law.[6] Compared with "Made in Germany" ('all essential manufacturing steps') Controversy Italian companies, mostly owned by Chinese people resident in Italy or immigrate, have used Chinese labor to cut down on costs and still produce “Made in Italy” items. some food for thought. Buy handmade and local :-)
Tracey Darling 6 years ago
China would guiltlessly consume the entire planet for profit if it could. What an evil country it is.
Marlyn Baon 6 years ago
I believe China will do anything to become the world's richest regardless of the inhumane conditions of its people. A Godless society.
Valerie Lessard 6 years ago
the abuses of industry are squarely on the shoulders of crapitalism
Load More Replies... bob 6 years ago
How can you advertise your company here? How? Have you no empathy? And to accuse the photographer at the same time. You really are a psychopath...
Load More Replies... Valerie Lessard 6 years ago
pollution is partly due to the industrial waste produced by multinational factories using china's cheap labour. china has very little regulation in this regard, and corporations like it that way. so yeah, criticising america is a good start if you do want to look at this part of the world. countries like china, india and bangladesh also get sent plastic and electronic waste to sort and "recycle" (reuse salvageable components to make even cheaper electronic products) the rest being often melted down, making everybody sick including the women and children usually "employed" to do this work. this is not a usa only problem, but they're all in it together.
Load More Replies... Anna Lourie 6 years ago
do you think boredpanda is a USA-thing? for me (from germany) I had no thought about political stuff, but only thought about those poor lives, which are captured in these photos. Sometimes things can be said, without having a political context.
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