WINNERS

When The Tide Recedes

  • Photographer
    Jinzhe Wu, China
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention

North China Oilfield, my hometown. Growing up, I witnessed its rise and decline. The cultural erosion amid 1990s layoffs wasn't abrupt collapse but a slow shedding of glory—like bodily aging. As oil dwindles, residents' identity frays. First-gen workers, migrant enclaves, built cultural islands, fencing out local traditions, nurturing homeland customs in this industrial exclave. Now these self-contained worlds drift in the ebbing oil-tide. "Oilfield people" dissolve into modernity's currents. I document vanishing collectivist traces before this grand retreat ends.