According to Forbes, Beijing has become the third most expensive to live in, with average residential real estate costs of $5,820 per square meter. In response, millions of the city’s residents have had to adapt to substandard living conditions. Italian photographer Antonio Faccilongo found his way under the streets of Beijing and documented some of the people who live in former nuclear bunkers. Echoing Kowloon Walled City, the famously adapted and self-sufficient warren of buildings outside Hong Kong that was razed in 1993, these underground bunkers are inhabited primarily by migrant workers, who endure poor living environments, often sharing bathrooms, kitchens, and other amenities. The photos tell a harrowing story of squalor, but also of adaptation, resourcefulness, and community.
—Ben King, deputy design director, BuzzFeed News
Casey Morton’s photo series of New Zealand gang members is more than a portrait — it's a display of power. These guys wear their identity proud. Despite gangs being quite common in the country, the Black Power NZ is not an easy group to penetrate. Morton’s series breaks that exclusivity a little and sheds some light on this group, not to completely change perceptions that they’re not bad after all, nor to drive home their notoriety, but to show a human element to what’s told in the news.
—Anna Mendoza, photo editor, BuzzFeed Australia
There are about 60 million children in rural China that are being raised by grandparents while their own parents live separately to work in the city. In this feature, Kevin Frayer takes us into the lives of one such family. The photos are heartwarming and somber at the same time. They show youthfulness amid survival, and grandparents doing the best they can to provide a childhood for those left behind.
—A.M.