Since the end of the Korean War China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK, North Korea) have enjoyed a strong history of friendship with close diplomatic relations and even military ties.
As an hermit nation North Korea relies on the trade with its neighbour China. The border between the two countries stretches 1,416-kilometer (880-mile) along the Yalu and Tumen rivers and is a vital trade route for North Korea, which gets 90 percent of
its oil from China. The two provinces of Liaoning and Jilin found in North East China have on many occasions belonged to the Korean Kingdoms. The Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture sees many ethnic Koreans living on the edge with the DPRK.
The border between the two countries is naturally defined by the narrow and shallow Yalu and Tumen rivers both offering many easy crossing points. However since 2013 China has erected new fences along its border with North Korea to prevent refugees crossing into China. By mid-2013 Chinese authorities in an area bordering north-eastern North Korea had installed miles of barbed-wire fencing along a stretch of river dividing the two countries, sharply reducing the number of people escaping the isolated state into China. Made of 8 to 15 feet tall (approximately 5 meters) concrete barriers connected by barbed wire, the fence stretches mainly along the banks of the Yalu River.
The landscape found along the border is truly magnificent and is in stark contrast with the harsh realities and tragedies occurring sometimes over the border. The series The Great Fence of China documents the new landscapes implied by the addition
of another man made frontier between the People's Republic of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It is a visual journey across the landscapes facing refugees trying to escape the realities of life in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.