Beijing, 2017. A very efficient journalist for the Great Hall of the People at the annual National People's Congress. A ban on selfiesticks was instituted a year earlier, but that ban has been rolled back and so they are back, in all shapes and sizes.

Hangzhou, 2019. In the Flyzoo Hotel cafe of the largest internet company Alibaba, the bartender has been replaced by a hydraulic robotic arm that prepares cocktails in full swinging and swaying modus. It can measure every drink down to the millimeter, knows five shake and stir techniques, and in the long run can be cheaper than its human colleague. 

Beijing, 2017. Visitors to the four-day International Pet Supplies Fair looks closely at a "full-automatic pet dryer". 

Wuzhen, 2016. The booth of video sharing site Bilibili at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen. With 700 million internet users, China is irresistible to anyone doing something digital. At the same time, the internet regime is known as the most censored in the world. 

Beijing, 2017. A young visitor in the Beijing World amusement park on a miniature pyramid. The park opened in 1993 and provides an overview of iconic architecture in miniature. But the number of visitors has declined sharply in recent years, partly due to the growing middle class that now flies around the world to admire the original versions.

Chongqing 2020. A attempted replica of Rio’s Christ the Redeemer statue in the notorious Mexin Foreigner Street amusement park. From the early 2010s the park, open 24/7 with no entry ticket, had gained a reputation so weird that you simply had to go and see for yourself. In 2019 it was broken down to make space for the ever-expanding Chongqing metropolis.

Changsha, 2016. The young Mao Zedong statue built only a decade ago is located on Orange Isle in Changsha, a metropolis not far from his hometown Shaoshan in Hunan province. The monument stands 32 metres tall and depicts the chairman as a man in the full blush of youth. With stone hair looking as though it is playing in the wind the bust is based on Mao’s look circa 1925.

Beijing, 2015. Dutch press awaiting a visit by King Willem-Alexander to the Dashilan district. The king walks through this hutong, a traditional Chinese residential area, on the second day of the state visit to China. 

Chengdu, 2015. On the Kuanzhaixiangzi tourist food street, dozens of stalls and eateries promise Chengdu's best street snacks, including these grilled pork snouts. Other options include the marinade rabbit heads in spicy pepper, dried yak meat, and all sorts of snacks on sticks

Beijing, 2015. Planes over Tiananmen Square in a grand parade to commemorate the 'victory over fascism' and the end of World War II, which began here with the Japanese occupation as early as 1937. During the war 14-20 million Chinese died. Only the Soviet Union had more casualties.