Photography exhibition presents two views of contemporary China. Chen Nan reports.

An on-going exhibition at Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Inner Ear, presents more than 200 pictures taken by two passionate photographers, Ren Hang, 23, and Qiu Junsong, 36. While Ren trains his camera on his friends, Qiu uses it to record the changes in his hometown, a small village near Guangzhou.

"They belong to different generations and their style and subjects are very different," says Rong Rong, curator of the exhibition and a renowned avant-garde Chinese photographer, who adds Ren and Qiu were complete strangers to each other before the exhibition.

A model airplane is framed in a heart shape in Ren Hang's work.

"I brought them together because their pictures are an intimate portrayal of their lives. Their pictures will help viewers understand two different worlds in today's China."

Referring to the title of the exhibition Inner Ear, he says it refers to the innermost part of the ear which has two functions - helping people hear and maintaining balance. "We want viewers to listen to the two photographers' inner voices through their pictures."

Ren was born in Jilin province, northern China, and studied photography in Beijing, after spending years learning painting. The exhibition displays nearly 100 pictures which Ren took from 2008 to 2010, of his friends, and include rock musicians, fashion models and white-collar workers.

Ren always has his camera with him and clicks whatever takes his fancy. Taken from creative angles, his youthful photographs defy categorization and range from the moody eyes of a girl peering over the flowers she's holding, to a model airplane framed in a heart shape.

"These are spontaneous pictures, taken on an impulse. I often click pictures while at a rock concert or fashion show. This is my life and that's how I choose to record it," he says.

"I use film to take pictures rather than digital cameras. It's very exciting to see the photos processed in the dark room," Ren says.

"People say our generation is the most pampered in contemporary Chinese society. We are seen as selfish and careless. I don't agree. I believe our lives are meaningful and want to keep a record of it," he says.

Qiu comes from a place that is more than 2,500 km from Ren's hometown, in Guangdong province. In strong contrast to Ren's bold style, Qiu's poetic black-and-white pictures of his hometown are often grainy and blurred.

Qiu worked as an art teacher for eight years, before becoming a photographer, and that shaped his modest and mild personality. His photos seek to capture the redolent atmosphere of his southern hometown.

The exhibition presents Qiu's works from 2001 to 2010, with their scenes of village life, the shadows of trees, blue skies, distant mountains, narrow paths and farmlands, speaking silently of sweeping social changes.

He says leaving his hometown to work in big cities such as Guangzhou and Shanghai, prompted him to look back at his life.

"For the past 10 years, I have been observing and experiencing the world outside my hometown," he says. "Moving to the big cities from the countryside has made me a participant of the country's urbanization. I often struggle between my urban existence and my nostalgia for the countryside."

Qiu spent most of his teenage years on the farm, which brought him close to nature.

"Although my village is modernizing and the rural scenery is changing with urbanization, the land is the same.

"I still like sitting on the ground and feeling the earth. It's very mysterious," he says.