Photos focus on a rich heritage

The prize has been awarded on four occasions, and Na has witnessed the change in both the participants and their focus. "More young people, especially women, are taking part, and photographers are shifting their attention from recording traditions to documenting the current situation," Na says.

Yi Hui, 40, from the Hui ethnic group, is a prizewinner who has trained her lens on young people, mostly the modern lifestyles of the girls and young women.

As a photography teacher at Guilin Normal College in Guangxi, Yi has many students who are girls from different ethnic groups, but she finds it hard to identify their ethnic group from the way they dress, their lifestyle or their habits.

In the present day, many ethnic people have left the compact communities where their ancestors lived, moving to bigger cities and discarding their traditional clothing, according to Yi.

"As one of them, I am seldom recognized as being from my ethnic group due to my attire or habits by other people, but features of my appearance still reveal the truth. It makes me feel confused about my identity sometimes. It's the same with the young girls. So I want to show our exploration of identity," Yi says.