Considered the cradle of Chinese civilization, the central province of Henan and its 100 million-strong population typifies China's transformative yet often tumultuous economic ascent.
Long the sort of impoverished backwater that people left in search of better lives, Henan has in recent years enjoyed the fruits of an economic boom that has raised incomes and given people a taste of middle class lifestyles and aspirations.
Left: Fishermen Sun Lianxi, 32, and Sun Genxi, 44, travel down the Yellow River to cast their net. For generations, the Suns plied their fishing boats up and down the Huai and Yellow Rivers, living off their daily catch. Like their grandfather and father before them, brothers were born on a fishing boat. China's economic ascent has tantalised the brothers. "These high-rise buildings have nothing to do with me. They're for others, not me," Lianxi says. "We don't have any part in it." Right: The son of Sun Lianxi walks among the debris of their former housing. The Suns were owners of a large houseboat, enough to accommodate their clan of 17 spanning four generations under one weather-beaten roof. But as part of a broad-ranging environmental crackdown, local authorities in 2017 took over the houseboat in the name of minimising water pollution and over-fishing. With nowhere to go, the Suns erected temporary housing on the riverside but that too was swiftly dismantled by authorities. The Suns now live in tents of tarpaulin and plastic sheets by a floating bridge on the banks of the Yellow River, reduced to fishing from a small dinghy.
Story
They reported on some of the crucial issues facing Henan, and the broader Chinese economy: a property boom that appears to be coming to an end; a slump in consumer spending; an anti-pollution campaign that has had a crippling economic impact on many cities and towns, even as their people are breathing more easily; and the undermining of dreams of upward social mobility.