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Chinese photographer with an atypical journey, Qian Haifeng has been photographing the last green trains in China for more than ten years. He captures the scenes of life which take place in these closed and moving spaces. From December 14 to March 1, nearly sixty of his photographs will be exhibited at the Galerie de l’Illet.

Nothing predisposed this electrician, born in 1968 in Wuxi, a Chinese industrial city located 120 kilometers from Shanghai, to make such a journey. It was in 1995, with the birth of her daughter, that Qian Haifeng started doing photography.

In 2006, his passion for travel and his modest budget led him on board of the Green Train, the means of transport popular with the working classes in northeast China. Two years later, the first Chinese high-speed line connecting Pekin to Tientsin entered into service. It was at this moment that the photographer started documenting each of his journeys and the lives of travelers on board of these trains in danger of disappearing.

For ten years, on weekends and in his spare time, he immortalizes these small communities which appear in wagons, with empathy and generosity: families with babies, sleeping workers, peasants descended from the mountains to sell their harvest, students on their way to their studies, travelers who temporarily set up camps and makeshift lounges… The journey between megalopolises and the Chinese countryside can stretch over several days, life then settles in the train. People eat there, sleep there, dance there. The artist captures the moment. He creates a social bond with the people he photographs, shares the moments of solitude and conviviality. His work tells of a China he knows well, that of a working class whose values ​​and lifestyle he shares.

For this series, he traveled more than 200,000 kilometers and made no less than 150,000 photos. His work has received several distinctions, he participated in the Kyotography festival (in Japan) and was exhibited at the National Museum of China in Beijing.

As the ”green trains” are gradually disappearing from the Chinese rail system and the high-speed train industry is growing across the country, it is to defend this means of transport and all the people using it that Qian Haifeng, inspired by the work of photographer Wang Fuchun, continues his documentary today. A project to follow…