21.03.2026
Twice, Zeitenspiegel photographer Frank Schultze visited the „Golden Waterway,“ located between a Taiwanese island and China's coast, in 2023 and 2024. The elaborate project has now been selected as a Freelens Showcase.
On its website, Freelens, the professional association of freelance photographers, repeatedly presents particularly noteworthy projects by its members. These curated works, called „Showcases,“ are intended, according to Freelens, to „provide insight into the creative diversity and commitment of our members.“ Zeitenspiegel photographer Frank Schultze has now also been honored with such a showcase: for his photo series on the „Golden Waterway.“ This lies between the Chinese coastal metropolis of Xiamen and the Kinmen archipelago, which, although only about two kilometers off the Chinese mainland, belongs to Taiwan. The ferry service between these places resumed operations in 2023 after a three-year Corona break. And everything quickly returned to normal: Taiwanese travelers returned from Xiamen to Kinmen with suitcases full of smuggled goods.
Frank Schultze had become aware of this extraordinary ferry connection through a media report; it connects two states that share a history of conflict since their founding. In recent years, speculation has increased about whether the increasingly powerful People's Republic of China would launch a military strike to annex Taiwan, which it considers a „rebellious province.“.
With a scholarship from VG Bild, Schultze traveled to this geopolitical hotspot for the first time in 2023, researching and photographing for two weeks. Back in Germany, he presented the results to the magazine's photo editors. Sea This led to the commission to visit the ferries of Kinmen once again—this time together with the author Angela Köckritz. In November 2024, the two traveled back and forth countless times between China and Taiwan. And they brought back the reportage from there. „Ferry of Hope“ with.