In June 2007, a year before the Olympic Games, the Swiss photographers Mathias Braschler and Monika Fischer arrived in Beijing to start an epic photographic journey through China.

Their journey lasted for 7 months, covering 30 of China's provincial cities and regions, and crossing over 30,000 kilometers, and in this journey they visited many remote and virtually unknown areas.

They experimented with confronting and recording every facet of society. Using a medium format and large format camera, they photographed people from different social and geographic backgrounds in this vast country.

The series “The Chinese” completely records this journey, and has become a truthful and moving portrayal of today's China.

From the powerful industrialist in Chongqing to the poor rural worker in Shanxi province, from the prostitute in Shenzhen to the People's Liberation Army soldier guarding his post on Chinese frontiers, this entire montage of photographs presents China today, a fascinating and dynamic nation.

The exhibition opens to the public in 798 Art District in Beijing and runs from July 18 to September 10.

Editor: Zhu Chuange