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Migrant worker, April 10th, 2005. Photo by Lu Guang

Though China may be a growing superpower in the world economy, not everyone is happy about the side effects unleashed in the country’s wake. In a new collection of photographs, the spotlight is put on the dark and dirty side of China’s rise to the top, and the effect is devastating.

Photographer Lu Guang’s documentary project, “Pollution in China,” is a horrifying look at some of the worst living and working conditions on the planet. Included are pictures of rivers and reservoirs choked with trash, young children huddling in the cold covered in soot, cities built around coal plants and buried in thick ash, and sewage pipes discharging filth into the great Yangtze River. It’s enough to make the viewer feel dirty, no matter how far away they are from the continent.

This intensity was recognized by a panel of international judges last month. “Pollution in China” took first place, and the $30,000 prize, at the 30th annual awards ceremony for the W. Eugene Memorial Fund in New York City.

This is not the first foray into social documentary for Guang. As a factory worker who had to fight hard to start his own photo studio, Guang has first-hand knowledge of the horrors of being on the underprivileged side of an industrializing nation. This would become the focus of his work, as he sought to further explore “social phenomena and people living at the bottom of society.”

For photographers and artists like Lu Guang, the depiction of these kinds of people helps make sure they are not simply forgotten in China’s rush to the top. To see more from Guang’s amazing, heartbreaking photo-essay, check out this extensive online collection from ChinaHush.