These photographs from Shanghai explore the new culture rapidly developing in China as it expands its domestic market at breakneck speed. As elsewhere in the world, the appeal of modern consumer goods and the benefits they bring is there for all to see. But such rapid change has its dark side. As the not-so-old cultural structures become increasingly irrelevant, there are threats to social cohesion as communal identity gives way to individuality and alienation. What we are seeing now is a new Cultural Revolution, a capitalist Cultural Revolution that is more complete, more total, and no less ideological than the Cultural Revolution that was instigated by Chairman Mao in the 1960s.
"Lovin' It" is introduced by John Gittings, for many years foreign leader-writer and East Asia editor at the "Guardian." Gittings first visited China in 1971 during the Cultural Revolution and in 2001 he opened the "Guardian"'s first staff bureau on the Chinese mainland, in Shanghai.
The book also includes an interview with Hinton by writer and cultural critic Nigel Warburton.
London-based photographer Adam Hinton has produced several documentary projects based on various communities, including a favela in Rio de Janeiro, a coal mining family in the Ukraine, and a Himba community in Namibia. His personal and commissioned photography have won numerous awards and been exhibited at various galleries, including the National Portrait Gallery and The Photographers' Gallery, London.