Born in 1964 in Shaanxi, Hei began shooting with a borrowed camera in the 1980s and has used his lens to portray the faces of common people.

Xinyaozi became his focus because Hei was influenced by celebrated anthropologist Fei Xiaotong's Peasant Life in China and wanted to create a photography project about a village.

"During that time, I visited many villages across the country, but because I couldn't understand the dialects in the southern regions, I decided to focus my project on my birthplace — Shaanxi. Here, I shared similar living habits, which made understanding easier, and the language was familiar, allowing me to hear more stories," Hei says.