He Chongyue is one of the most esteemed contemporary artists in the circle of Chinese photographers today. Born in Beijing in 1960, He Chong Yue took up photography in 1984. He mostly works with a wooden chamber camera.

He Chong Yue currently lives and works in Beijing and has participated to many solo and group shows in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Spain the United States and most recently in Berlin.

For the past 12 years, his work is a sociological research of  rural China: Family Planning,The End and The Exempted series all touch upon the gradual end of rural traditions in China.

The Exempted series featured recent portraits of peasants all born before 1949 in the region of Yan An, chosen because of the start there of the “Long March”. These peasants are therefore the disappearing  foundation of China.

To mark the recent end of the one child policy, He Chongyue has just started his 4th and final sociological series: One Child will include 400 portraits of young adults raised in single child families. This project as opposed to the previous ones, will focus on large and 2nd tier urban centers.

His interest of rural life made him a perfect candidate to photograph Lafite.