GDToday's "Discovering China Together" project, a cultural initiative that included a photographic journey, a storytelling event, and dual exhibitions in California and Guangzhou, concluded with the closing of its exhibition in Guangzhou on February 27, 2025.
Combo photo shows people visit the "Discovering China Together" exhibition in Guangzhou, Guangdong, on February 15, 2025. (Photo: Qin Shaolong)
World-class photographers captured Guangdong through their lens
Launched in November 2024, the project brought together four world-renowned photographers—Nick Ut, Ringo Chiu, Irfan Khan, and Michael Nelson—to explore Guangdong's diverse cities, including Qingyuan, Guangzhou, Dongguan, Shantou, Zhongshan, and Foshan. Their photographs captured the region's dynamic blend of traditional and modern life.
GDToday closely followed the journey, producing five short documentaries that recorded the photographers' interactions with the cities. These documentaries, shared on the GDToday website and app, Facebook, X, and Instagram, amassed over 5 million views and 20,000 interactions, sparking global conversations around Guangdong's cultural fusion. The photographers, inspired by the region's diversity and the hospitality of its people, shared nearly 100 social media posts, offering a behind-the-scenes look at their experiences.
GDToday documentary on the photographers' trip to Guangdong
Storytelling and photo exhibitions engaged people from different cultures
To further deepen cultural engagement, GDToday hosted a storytelling event in Guangzhou, where over 80 attendees from 13 countries had the opportunity to interact with the photographers.
Michael Nelson talks at the storytelling event in Guangzhou, Guangdong, on November 23, 2024. (Photo: Deng Yingheng)
The project culminated in two exhibitions. The US exhibition, held in Costa Mesa, California, from January 23 to February 12, attracted an estimated over 500,000 visitors and was covered by more than 500 media outlets, including the Associated Press News and Yahoo Finance. The Guangzhou exhibition, which opened on February 15, saw over 10,000 visitors in ten days.
Combo photo shows people visit a photo exhibition titled "Nihao, China! See You in Guangdong" in Costa Mesa, California, the United States, on January 23, 2025. (Photo by Felix Li)
People visit the "Discovering China Together" exhibition in Guangzhou, Guangdong, on February 15, 2025. (Photo: Liang Zijian)
Global audiences found connections with Guangdong in the photos
The project garnered heartfelt responses from international audiences. Piotr Nowotniak, Consul General of Poland in Guangzhou, reflected on China's rapid transformation when seeing a photo of the neon-lit Pearl River night cruise. "The future is unfolding in China. This is perhaps a glimpse of what humanity's future will look like," he said.
"The exhibition offered a human and everyday perspective, taking me into China in a way that felt like a complete experience as if I had been there," Mona Sherif, a visitor of the exhibition in California, said.
"Guangdong is a wonderful mixture of old and new. The photos represent that so well," Lina Gidwani, an expat who has lived in Guangzhou for 23 years, commented after visiting the exhibition in Guangzhou.
Reporter | Chen Siyuan
Photo | Deng Yingheng, Felix Li, Qin Shaolong, Liang Zijian
Editor | Hu Nan, James, Shen He
