Wang Jinsong's Standard Family series comprises 200 images of Chinese single-child families. The series was produced as an investigation into China's one-child policy and its effect on the development of contemporary Chinese society. Implemented as a solution to the country's population crisis, since the introduction of the one-child policy in 1973, couples in China have been restricted to having one child and the resulting three-person family group has become the "standard" family in China. Wang's approach to his topic has not been critical. Instead, he has presented the situation as simple fact. Wang Jinsong has also commented that the families he photographed for the work were happy to be involved with the project; most were proud that they could enjoy upward mobility and a more "Western-style lifestyle" as a result of having only one child. Arranged in a tight grid, Standard Family allows the viewer to see the generic expressions, postures, and family forms that result from collectivism and the will of the state, and the social structure that lies behind them. The questions raised through the lens of the family embody Jinsong's visual thinking about the future of a people.
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