Echoes of the Empty Village

• Prize
  Honorable Mention
• Photographer
  Kechen Zhao, China
• Date of Photograph
  2025/7/20

In the Loess Plateau region of Shanxi Province, large-scale outmigration of rural populations has left countless traditional cave dwellings abandoned. This series of black-and-white documentaries unfolds its narrative through solitary gateways, desolate courtyards, empty dwellings, weathered walls and mountain landscapes. These dilapidated structures bear witness to the gradual vanishing of rural homesteads amid urbanization, silently safeguarding the fading memories of village life.