--- title: See These Emotional Photograph Portraits of Chinese Identical Twins description: Chinese photographer Gao Rongguo has created a series of portraits of identical twins that shows how fate changes the face and body. canonical: https://time.com/45301/see-the-dramatic-changes-of-these-identical-twins-over-time/ author: Kyle Chayka article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-01T15:28:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:48:44.847Z og:title: See How Life Changes These Identical Twins og:description: Chinese photographer Gao Rongguo has created a series of portraits of identical twins that shows how fate changes the face and body og:url: https://time.com/45301/see-the-dramatic-changes-of-these-identical-twins-over-time/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See How Life Changes These Identical Twins twitter:description: Chinese photographer Gao Rongguo has created a series of portraits of identical twins that shows how fate changes the face and body twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # See the Dramatic Differences Between Identical Twins Over Time by [Kyle Chayka](/author/kyle-chayka/) ## Kyle Chayka Apr 1, 2014 3:28 PM CUT by [Kyle Chayka](/author/kyle-chayka/) ## Kyle Chayka Apr 1, 2014 3:28 PM CUT Chinese artist [Gao Rongguo](http://www.artist.cn/gaorongguo/StyleBasis%5FFour/en%5Falbum%5F14639.shtml "undefined") has created a series of portrait photographs that are both beautiful and emotional. In these portraits of identical twins from Gao’s native China, the impact life has on our faces and bodies is made immediately clear. In the formal portraits, the twins are posed looking at each other, making it impossible not to compare the differences between the two. One twin might be shorter, or have more wrinkles, a few added spots, or lost more hair. For the artist, the series is a metaphor for how [fate shapes life](http://www.artist.cn/gaorongguo/StyleBasis%5FFour/en%5Falbum%5F14639.shtml "undefined"), and how even people born in the same era can have vastly different experiences. Gao’s twins are all over 50 years old—old enough to know their fate, Gao writes. This also means that the portrait subjects have lived through some of their country’s biggest upheavals. That experience is imprinted on their faces. The last portrait in the series is the most impactful. On the right, a man stands in profile, while on the left there is just an empty landscape—his twin’s life ended before his did. _See next:_ [_Check Out These Throwback Black-and-White Photos of Organic Farmers_](http://time.com/3111961/organic-farmers-francesco-mastalia/?xid=time%5Freadnext "undefined")  Gao Rongguo  Gao Rongguo  Gao Rongguo  Gao Rongguo  Gao Rongguo  Gao Rongguo  Gao Rongguo ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/45301/see-the-dramatic-changes-of-these-identical-twins-over-time/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/45301/see-the-dramatic-changes-of-these-identical-twins-over-time/"},"headline":"See the Dramatic Differences Between Identical Twins Over Time","datePublished":"2014-04-01T15:28:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:48:44.847Z","description":"How does life imprint itself on the face?","url":"https://time.com/45301/see-the-dramatic-changes-of-these-identical-twins-over-time/","keywords":["Newsfeed","twins","China","Art","photography","photographs","apester"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kyle Chayka","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kyle-chayka/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/45301/see-the-dramatic-changes-of-these-identical-twins-over-time/","name":"See the Dramatic Differences Between Identical Twins Over Time"}}]}] ```