SINCE January, Hu Yang has stepped into the homes of more than 400 of his fellow city dwellers, armed with only a manual Contax 645 camera and the trust of the residents inside.

For the photographer, whose mission is to document today's Shanghai in a unique, intimate way, any black-and-white expectations were shattered by the kaleidoscope of the human condition he found behind the closed doors of Shanghai's apartments.

"I thought I was familiar with Shanghai life," said the 45-year-old photographer and Shanghai native. "But I found some things unbelievable."

While just decades ago, China strove to provide a common standard of living for all of its citizens, the apartments of today's Shanghai - its locals and expats, professionals, retirees, the unemployed, migrant labourers, artists, journalists and teachers - show how much has changed. About the only thing they share is the city they call home, says Hu, whose photos show opulence, squalor and the middle-class comforts in between.

One businessman has gold-plated ceilings and a bathroom bigger than some apartments Hu visited. A migrant labourer, meanwhile, sleeps in the cold, on a rickety bunk bed at the site where he works. But Hu insists his goal is not to judge the conditions, only to document them.

"This is life in the real Shanghai," Hu said through an interpreter.

"Shanghai's development is so fast. I wanted to find and record the different levels, poor to rich."

Of the hundreds of photographs Hu has taken this year, 34 are on display at epSITE Shanghai, the Epson Imaging Gallery (651 Huaihai Zhonglu) through January 6. At the exhibition's recent opening, locals and foreigners alike were astounded by the spectrum of wealth captured by Hu's camera.

Noticeable gap

"Pretty good," said Li Hua, 30, of Shanghai, who had been walking by the gallery and stopped in for a look. "They seem very real, very true." Li, who speaks no English, moved slowly, studying the rich details of each photo. "There is a big contrast between here and there," he said, gesturing at a wall displaying photos of migrant workers and then at one with photos of wealthy hotel employees. "The quality of life is so different."

While Shanghai's explosive economic development has captured the world's attention, there is a downside, according to the photographer. "I remember, before the 1980s, every household's income and living standard was almost at the same level, most people usually left their homes' doors open, and relations between neighbours were very amiable and admirable. People in that time could feel free to pay visits to their neighbours, relatives and friends without any psychological defence against each other," Hu wrote in an album of his works on display.

"Over the last 10 years, with Shanghai's social and economic development, some local people have luckily become rich, and more and more businessmen coming from home and abroad have rushed into Shanghai for investment and residency ... (but) the quarters for the rich and the poor have gradually separated. A wide gap has opened between the rich and the poor, and the role of human relations in people's daily life has been gradually neglected. People who are neighbours living on the same floor in the same apartment building no longer bother to get to know each other."

Finding subjects for his photos was not as difficult as persuading them to let him inside their private domains. Many are friends of Hu's, or friends of friends. Yet time and again, he was turned down. "It's very difficult. I tried to get them to trust me," he said. "Some families refused. They said they didn't want to share their lives with the public."

Those who did allow Hu into their homes received no money for their co-operation. "Never," he said.

Not even the Taiwan-born multimillionaire whose apartment left Hu speechless. "I found his bathroom was 100 square metres, and all the walls and ceilings were covered in gold leaf," he recalled.

Documentary of Shanghai

When asked for his favourite images, Hu picks ones he finds most representative of different segments of Shanghai's population. One, of a cultural palace employee taking a photo of his small dog in a light-bathed living room, is a good example of Shanghai's bourgeoisie, whose middle-class lifestyle often embraces Western ideals and objects. Another shows a Shanghai-born company employee sitting in his ultra-modern living room, a stand-alone bathtub just feet behind the couch where the man lounges, watching a huge flatscreen television. "This is a very typical lifestyle for a white-collar worker," said Hu.

On the other end of the spectrum, one photo shows a peasant worker from Sichuan Province catching some sleep on a makeshift bed with no mattress or sheets, using his bag as a pillow.

"Whether poor or rich, everyone is just a person," said Hu. "I just want to record the scene, make it more true."

His access to the inner sanctums of the rich and poor showed Hu the truth in the cliche that money can't buy happiness, even in cash-crazy Shanghai.

"By photographing and talking with the owners of many households, I have found that a man's happiness directly comes from a man's state of mind, not from money," he wrote. "The rich have their own troubles and distresses, the poor have their own happiness and cheerfulness, and the middle-class who have lived a stable and well-off life sometimes have their own worries."

Travel photographer Peter M de Ruiter, who checked out the exhibition on opening night, applauded Hu's work. "Very few things are unique these days," said de Ruiter, visiting from Holland. "But this is a unique view behind the scenes of the people of Shanghai."

Like others at the gallery, de Ruiter was struck by the extreme wealth and poverty of the residents. He also was surprised there were no barriers to Hu's revealing the vast divide.

"I think the photos are pretty shocking. It's surprising that he could do this, that nobody said, 'You can't take these pictures,' or, 'You can't display them,"' said de Ruiter. "He has created a timepiece, a documentary of Shanghai and how it is now. If photographers don't document, nobody will."

Hu, who never formally studied photography ("No one can teach you about photography," he said. "Photography is from your heart."), hopes to continue with this project as Shanghai's development moves along at breakneck speed.

"Society is always changing," he said. "I think this topic is like love. You can take photographs of love forever."