Hidden Harmonies China Blog

陈海汶 (Chen HaiWen) lead a team of 14 photographers, traveling over 100,000 km from 2008 through 2009, photographing all 56 ethnic groups making up China.  They took roughly 570,000 photos during this period.   It was a massive undertaking. Over 150 people, including historians and cultural experts worked with Chen to come up with the final compilation, “和谐中华——中国56个民族剪影” (“Harmonious China – Silhouette of China’s 56 Ethnic Groups”), officially released in the Shanghai Book Fair on August 18, 2009.

[Click on image to launch slideshow of the individual ethnic “family” portraits.]

China has 56 ethnic groups. They include Russians, Mongols, Uyghurs, Koreans, and many others. Here is a modern Chinese take on all of them: 中华大家庭 (the Big Chinese Family). The lyrics actually enumerate the groups individually.