Jonny Seymour’s cute and strange photo series of six-year-old Chinese kids’ “graduation”

Mortarboards and gowns are usually the preserve of those in their early 20s; knackered from exams, fearing unemployment and shuffling about uncomfortably having their picture taken while parents look on misty eyed. In China though, some schools run a rehearsal for that weird day when you’re ceremonially released into the world as an “educated” grown up, as little children have a graduation of their own. Photographer Jonny Seymour went over to capture that strange day, coming back with a wonderful series of images that show the kids dressed up to the nines and patiently standing on stage clutching their little scrolls. Shot in a town called Foshan, the images were taken at a private school “where the kids board from the age of four and is only for very wealthy Chinese families,” says Jonny. He adds: “It was shot at their graduation aged six, which is a very elaborate display where the kids show off that they can speak broken English, do kung fu and dance! The kids are taught by English people and that’s the big appeal for the Chinese family, that their kid is being taught by someone who was born and raised in England.”

The children all seem unnervingly well-behaved – there’s only one kid using his scroll as a telescope – and also very much made up for stage lighting. The colours in Jonny’s images are bold and shiny, mirroring the ceremony of the day and undoubtedly reflecting the pride of all the mums and dads watching the whole thing unfold.