Wedding photo. © Leslie Shang Zhefeng

Cypress Slope

Leslie Shang Zhefeng

 2020-2021 — Shaanxi, China

About this series

“Cypress Slope” is a project named after my hometown.
It was photographed in 2020 and presents my family’s origins by collecting information in a rural village located near Baoji City, Shaanxi Province, in Western China. What the last four generations of my family experienced is the story of ordinary families across China in the modern era.

Ginger stone facing the Loess and back to the sky. © Leslie Shang Zhefeng
Before 1958, Cypress trees were planted in many places on the plateau and Taiwan. During the Great Leap Forward era, the Dongsheng People’s Commune was cut down as a firewood for steelmaking. Cypresses were also planted on the grave of a loved one. 2021 © Leslie Shang Zhefeng
Mother, 24, and father, 22, in a photo studio. Wedding photo 1989 © Leslie Shang Zhefeng
Grandfather's wet Nurse. Mother and daughter. © Leslie Shang Zhefeng
Erniang and Locust tree branches. In Hongdong, Shaanxi, people would bring Locust tree branches when moving and plant them at the doorstep of their new home. A new Locust tree would grow. © Leslie Shang Zhefeng
Young people of the 2000s © Leslie Shang Zhefeng
Topography, Video capture in 1997 located in the plateau area at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains. The terrain is high in the south and low in the north, with mountains, plateaus and rivers. © Leslie Shang Zhefeng
My Grandfather was born on February 20th, 1920. © Leslie Shang Zhefeng
A record of my childhood. © Leslie Shang Zhefeng

Photographer: Leslie Shang
Nationality: Chinese
Based in: Shanghai, China
Instagram: @leslieshang_/

Photographer Leslie Shang Zhefeng was born in Baoji, Shaanxi,China in 1991, and currently lives and works in Shanghai-Xi’an. He has been paying attention to Chinese social issues, the relationship between man and architecture, Urban public space, population mobility, natural environment and ecology. And the study of self-identity and family history. Self-published documentary photography was reported by The Paper.works published in c41, INDIE, conceptualprojects magazine. In 2020, the long-term project “Chinese Scenery-Shanghai Scenery” and the hometown project of the same name about the family origin history “Cypress Slope” will be filmed. The latest series of “My Time” is a metaphor for the current situation in China.