Lu Guang is a Chinese photojournalist, heavily criticized by the Chinese government for documenting and openly talking about issues like drug addiction, HIV and pollution. Sadly, the photographer might have become the latest victim of the Chinese government’s extreme censorship – his wife has reported him missing on the 3rd of November.

Guang was supposed to attend some photography events in the Xinjiang region of China and meet his friend Mr. Chen in Sichuan afterwards. But he didn’t make it to Sichuan. Neither his wife, Xu, nor Mr. Chen were able to contact the photographer. After calling the wife the person who invited Lu to Xinjiang, Xu was informed that both the photographer and the person who invited him were arrested by national security. This was later confirmed by officers from the Zhejiang province. “He has been lost for more than 20 days,” said Xu on Twitter. “I have repeatedly contacted Xinjiang police but have been unable to get through. It is our 20th wedding anniversary [next week]. We should be celebrating it together. I can only hope for his safe return. ” The Xinjiang region is well-known for its iron-fisted surveillance and control of the Uighur Muslim community, often arresting reporters investigating the events. “The reality in China is you never know if you’re going to get into trouble because there are no written rules,” said Lu in an interview last year. Back in 2004, the photographer won the World Press Photo competition for exposing the AIDS villages of China, where many people have contracted HIV due to unsafe procedures carried out when giving blood. Check out some of the photographer’s most shocking pictures in the gallery below. h/t

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Lu Guang is a Chinese photojournalist, heavily criticized by the Chinese government

Image credits: Xiaoli11032018

He might have become the latest victim of the Chinese government’s extreme censorship – he was reported missing since the 3rd of November

See some of his most shocking pictures China doesn’t want you to see below

(Worker in Wuhai City, Inner Mongolia. April 10, 2005. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(A heavy truck carrying coal and lime drives away, causing dust to fly and harming the nearby residents. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(Eleven-year-old Xu Li of Hutsou is diagnosed with bone cancer. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(Children also live in the industrial district. China is now the world’s second-largest economy. Its economic development has consumed lots of energy and generated plenty of pollution. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(On 16 July 2010, the pipeline of the Newport Oil Wharf of Dalian Bay exploded, sending lots of oil into the sea. Many fishing boats were assigned to clean up the oil contamination for 8,150 times. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(Gao Rongsheng (13) at the grave of his parents. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(A woman carrying her severely ill grandson implores the sky to prevent the devil of pain returning. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(Disabled orphans adopted by charitable farmers. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(Children with cerebral palsy licks milk powder off a bed to feed. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(Laseng Temple has an over 200-year-old history, which includes the study of Mongolian medicines. It was seriously polluted by the surrounding factories, so few pilgrims go there now. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(Many factories have been moved from the country’s east to its central and western parts. Employees work in the dust. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(The Baotou Steel plant dumps mineral processing sewage into the tailings dam. Image credits: Lu Guang)

Image credits: Lu Guang

(The chemical industrial park of Yanwei Port in the city of Lianyungang dumps sewage in the sea. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(In the jeans-producing village of Xintang Town, in Guangdong, workers gain the stone for grinding the denim every morning. Image credits: Lu Guang)

Image credits: Lu Guang

(A wife cares for her dying husband. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(Qi Guihua, held here by her husband, fell ill when she returned to the village from Beijing to celebrate the Spring Festival. She died two hours after this photograph was taken. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(Families such as this one have sold almost everything valuable in their home to help meet medical expenses. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(A young girl warms her hands in winter. Her father is infected with HIV and still cares for five children and his elderly parents. Image credits: Lu Guang)

(Two girls prepare for the funeral of their six-year-old brother, who died from AIDS. Image credits: Lu Guang)

Even social networks are censoring the photographer