ERIC was born in Hong Kong and lives in Japan, but he did not visit China until 2005, when he took the pictures that would become Good Luck China. Raised under British rule, he grew up with a prejudice against the Chinese, and for years he refused to photograph there; his trip in 2005 began as a whim, perhaps even to prove that his aversion was justified. Although he cannot speak Mandarin, he says he felt a special connection with the Chinese people as he photographed them, something he had never felt before when photographing people around the world. For him the camera is a weapon for understanding the world, and it shattered the prejudiced self-image behind his aversion: in China, for the first time outside Hong Kong, he found subjects he could empathise with, photographing from the inside rather than from outside for the sake of amusement. The photographs show this interest in people: each page shows a candid portrait of one or more people, shot in rich colour (perhaps it is no accident that there is red in almost every photo). ERIC takes the same direct look at people throughout China, including far-flung places like Tibet and Inner Mongolia, as well as Beijing, then preparing for the Olympics. The large size of the book complements his 6x7 shots well.