In 2005, I relocated to China in search of my roots. Fast forward to 2009, I am embarrassed to admit I have not been to my ancestral hometown in Guangdong Province yet. Instead I have travelled further inland crossing the Loess Plateau to places ranging from the birthplace of the Communist revolution to China’s Little Mecca and oasis towns in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

I am interested in the little things that make up China beyond the stereotyped impression of temples, skyscrapers and the Great Wall. Just as I am also exploring my own identity as an overseas-born Chinese, I try to reconcile the real China with the China in my mind. This is my photographic journey to locate traces of its character in defining nondescript details, oftentimes a haphazard metamorphosis of its past towards piecemeal modernization.