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Photographed, edited and published by the artist, "Passing by Beijing" is a fascinating chronicle of Cai Dongdong's life in Beijing between 2002 and 2022.
During this period, Dongdong, who moved to Beijing from Northwest China, witnessed the sudden boom in China's domestic economy after the country became a member of the WTO in 2001, the sudden prosperity of the local art scene due to the interest of Western galleries and collectors, and the gradual but steady decline of both. His photographs are personal, documenting scenes, landscapes, friends and strangers. Rather than a methodical account of Beijing's changes, Dongdong's series presents moments and observations from within the flow, oddly sentimental yet underpinned by a hopeful, observant tone.

“Each press of the shutter seems to be driven by fate. Unalterable, undeletable, until the photo is developed, the process is full of all kinds of serendipity, as well as our expectation of the final results. There was no specific theme for my shooting, most of the time the camera was like a toy to me. When I came across an interesting scene, I would subconsciously take out my camera to record it. Sometimes, out of boredom I took pictures of my own shadow, of a gust of wind, of a party, of the scenery flashing past the bus window, of a flower in bloom.”
― from Cai Dongdong’s afterword