Award-winning Chinese photographer disappears in China

Award winning Chinese photographer Lu Guang has vanished while visiting China's Xinjiang region, according to his wife.

The documentary photographer, known for his work covering social and environmental issues in China, was visiting the Xinjiang region in the northwest of the country when he was taken away by government officials, Lu’s wife Xu Xiaoli says.

According to the BBC, The 57-year-old had arrived in the capital city of Urumqi on October 23rd, with the intention of flying on to Sichuan to meet a friend, identified only as Mr Chen, on November 5.

When Mr Chen arrived to meet Lu he was unable to find him. He then contacted Lu's wife Ms Xu, who explained she had not heard from Lu since November 3.

Ms Xu says she was later contacted by the wife of the person who had invited her husband to Xinjiang and was told both Lu and a host had been taken away by national security.

"He has been lost for more than 20 days and as his most direct family member, I have not received any notice of his arrest," Ms Xu wrote on Twitter. "I have repeatedly contacted Xinjiang police but have been unable to get through."

Lu has won multiple World Press Photo awards, the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund in 2009, and a National Geographic Photography Grant in 2010. In 2005, he became the first photographer from China invited as a visiting scholar to the United States by the US Department of State.

According to the BBC, Xinjiang, in far western China, has become notorious for its tight security controls and heavy surveillance.

You can see an interview with Lu below.