Mannequins display clothing for sale in a window display in the Bund area of Shanghai, China.

I’ve recently completed a body of work on China’s domestic consumer market. Long dormant, recent years have shown the billion or so potential consumers make an attractive target for the companies throughout the world. Coca-Cola knew this early on, but now companies such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Mercedes-Benz, H&M, Louis Vitton, Pizza Hut, and any other brand you know have opened shops in major urban centers in China.

Politicians in Beijing have been downplaying the severity of China’s share of the global economic crisis. Outlooks remain optimistic and, thanks in part to half-trillion-dollar stimulus plans, the country’s economic growth has not declined as rapidly as some had predicted. Through tax incentives, government-provided shopping vouchers, a lowering Consumer Price Index, and a nationwide “Buy China” movement, consumer spending in China has remained strong throughout recent months and is expected to grow in the near future. While many doubt that the country’s domestic market will bring swift respite to the world’s economies, evidence suggests it has done much to soften the blow to China’s bottom line.

A jewelry merchant passes out free bracelets and necklaces to a few lucky passers-by outside a supermarket in Nanjing, China. The merchant hoped the giveaway would act a promotion for his store.

People walk through a wholesale market near the Fuzi Miao area of Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. This market supplies consumer goods to smaller markets and shops in the rest of the city.

Tourists and shoppers walk into the Nanjing East Road subway station in Shanghai, China.

Shoppers check out at a discount clothing section of a large department store in Nanjing, China.

People look at recent offerings of the revitalized MG car company in Nanjing, China. Originally a British company, MG Nanjing has taken over the brand and will market cars in China starting in 2007, with plans to move to the British market in later years.

Shoppers ride an escalator from Wal-Mart in Wanda Plaza in the central Xinjeikou shopping district in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.

A family loads consumer goods onto a truck in Guilin, Guangxi Province, China.

People look into a Mercedes-Benz car dealership in central Shanghai, China.

People walks past high-fashion stores and billboards at the Deji Plaza shopping mall in the central Xinjeikou shopping area of Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.

People shop for small electronics at a wholesale market in the Fuzi Miao area of Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. The market acts as a distributor of consumer goods to shops and smaller markets throughout the city.

A Trust-Mart supermarket employee rests on an escalator between floors of the supermarket in Nanjing, China.

More work from the series can be seen on my website, “Hao shaoxi, hao shaoxi: China’s domestic consumer market”.

Brian Ulrich can’t believe he’s alive because he’s just been named a 2009 Guggenheim Fellow. Other photographers awarded the fellowship this year, most previously unknown to me: Thomas Joshua Cooper (examples), Osamu James Nakagawa, Suzanne Opton (you may have seen her Soldier Billboard Project), Anna Shteynshleyger, Cheryle St. Onge, and Byron Glen Wolfe (can’t find anything online for Wolfe… update: link found thanks to Tom in the comments).

Brian Ulrich has long been a favorite of mine. His work documenting retail stores, thrift stores, and store backrooms, explains the current American economy (starting about when George W. Bush told the American public that the most patriotic thing they could do after Sept. 11 was to go shopping) better than any photojournalism I’ve seen. Ulrich’s recent essay on closed stores in the suburbs for Time left me a little wanting (except for a picture or two), but the rest of his work is top notch, for sure.