ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Beijing-based photographer and filmmaker Wang Jiuliang, who has worked since 2008 to raise public awareness of the consequences of the wasteful lifestyle in cities in relation to China’s escalating consumerism and rapid urban expansion. It analyzes the making of Wang’s two major works, Beijing Besieged by Waste and Plastic China, and probes into the reception and censorship of Wang’s work in China as well as the challenges and opportunities of grassroots environmental activism. The chapter demonstrates that with his sympathetic camera lens and minimalist style, Wang has revealed the appalling destruction of the environment and human lives brought about by China’s profit-driven and urban-focused socioeconomic development. His documentary images of waste accumulation, pollution, and human suffering as well as the public dissemination of them in turn contributes to the growth of new awareness, spaces, and forms of social intervention.
