Li Wei: The Earth (Mongolia)

Photo © Li Wei-All Rights Reserved

Li Wei is a freelance photographer based in Beijing, who was born in Hohhot,Inner Mongolia, and who graduated from the Communication University of China.

His photographs of Inner Mongolia are those of an insider...no tourist stuff here, nor are the photographs the type one sees in glossy magazines advertising Mongolian lifestyle.

Inner Mongolia (distinct from the country of Mongolia) is an autonomous region of China, located in the northern region of the country. It shares an international border with the country of Mongolia and the Russian Federation. Han Chinese are the largest ethnic group, constituting about 80% of the population, followed by Mongols.

Asia Society: Hutongs

Click Link Below For Movie

I always have the highest of hopes for the Asia Society's web site, but it always manages to underwhelm me. Its web site seems somehow anchored in the nineties, with timid multimedia features, and its navigation is confusing. It almost seems to me as if I ventured in a government web site, with dry, clinical and unimaginative display of its many events.

Having said that, it has featured an interesting collection of videos on the Hutongs, the traditional narrow streets or alleys, most commonly associated with Beijing. Hutongs are alleys formed by lines of traditional courtyard residences. Many have been demolished to make way for high rise buildings, and the few remaining are threatened.

Hutongs were created during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) when Kublai Khan founded Beijing as the capital. All closed courtyards were built in a neat layout, and the hutongs were originally all 30 feet in width, allowing plenty of sunshine. During the dynasties, small hutongs were formed within the existing ones, making them overly crowded.

Don't miss the still photographs slideshow of old hutongs!

Joseph F. C. Rock: Western China

Photo © Joseph Francis Charles Rock

Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884 – 1962) was an Austrian-American explorer, botanist, and anthropologist. For more than 25 years, he traveled extensively through Tibet and Yunnan, Gansu, and Szechuan provinces in China before finally leaving in 1949.

His travels in Western China is featured by On Shadow, and I thought I'd show the gallery of his more than 275 photographs made in the 1920s. It's always fascinating to me to view photographs made during these early years of photography, which required lugging heavy cameras and large amounts of developing chemicals. What we present-day photographers carry is a mere trifle of what these photographers had to schlep. They certainly had porters to do it for them, but imagine the difficulties this still was, as well as having to develop the films in situ.

For those of you who are patient and interested enough to scroll through the 275 images, you'll notice one that is captioned as "Lamas with trumpets, drums, and cymbals chanting the prelude to the Black Hat Dance in front of the main chanting hall at Cho-ni Lamasery" and was taken in December 1925. Compare it with contemporary photographs of Bhutan's Black Hat dances at its tsechus, and you'll realize that not much has changed.

On Shadow is primarily run by Nicholas Calcott, and was founded in January 2008, originally as the blog arm of the publisher 12th Press. It presents projects and essays from invited scholars and artists.

Robert Gauthier: China Journal

Photo © Robert Gauthier-All Rights Reserved- Courtesy Los Angeles Times

As I'm still "suffering" from the afterglow (albeit, and regrettably, only a second-hand one) of the momentous events in Cairo, and from the visual overload of my 2 weeks photo expedition in Gujarat, it was about time to feature photographic work from a different part of the world...

The Los Angeles Times' Framework featured Robert Gauthier's Behind The Lens: A Photographer’s China journal.

I find similar behind the scene journal entries by photographers and photojournalists very interesting, as these provide insight as to what worked, what didn't and what went through their minds as they go about doing their business....whether it was jubilation at getting a "money shot"...or the disappointment at not getting what was expected.

Gauthier writes:

"Here’s the money shot,” I thought. As a photojournalist, I try to anticipate moments that help illustrate the thesis of the story. In my mind’s eye, I pictured Li, arriving home after months away. Children scrambling into his arms, a loving wife’s long embrace, tears of happiness streaming from everyone’s face.


Zonk! Instead, a hesitant father politely introduces his reluctant wife as the children stay outside. We all stand awkwardly in a dimly lighted living room. Li nowhere near his wife. No Norman Rockwell moment here. This is how stories like these generally go. You have to expect the unexpected."

We have all experienced this very same feeling. We build our expectations up; partly because we are wishful thinkers when it comes to our photography, and imagine the "perfect" scenes before we get to them...and partly because we frequently misinterpret how other people react.

Yes, indeed. We have to expect the unexpected...and be realistic in our expectations. I know...that last bit of advice is silly. We can never do that.

In Focus Does Lantern Festival

Photo © Jason Lee-Courtesy In Focus-All Rights Reserved

The new photo blog In Focus by Alan Taylor for The Atlantic featured about 33 photographs of the festivities on the occasion of the Lunar New Year. The Lantern Festival (known as Yuan Xiao Jie) was observed yesterday in China and wherever there are Chinese communities. It's the last day of the Chinese Lunar New Year festivities.

The blurb accompanying the photographs informs us that it's the most important annual celebration in China, and welcomes the Year of the Rabbit...which is a year of caution and calm.

Calm and caution? I guess the Arab nations revolting for their freedom are unconcerned with the Year of the Rabbit!!

I sense In Focus will soon be one of the favored destinations for those of us who appreciate photojournalism at its best...especially as I just noticed that it offers two choices for its image size: 1024 or 1280 pixels! Nice touch...very nice touch!

Katharina Hesse: Human Negotiations (& Interview)

Katharina Hesse is a photographer who currently works in China and Asia, and has been based in Beijing for the past 17 years. She graduated in Chinese and Japanese studies from the Institut National des Langues et Civilizations Orientales (INALCO) in Paris.

She has recently uploaded some of her gripping photographs of Bangkok's sex industry unto a 6 minutes-movie which she titled Human Negotiations (above), and during which she also talks about her project in a Skype-interview with Elisabetta Tripodi, and which appeared on the blog e-photoreview.

Human Negotiations is an experimental two-year collaboration between Katharina and writer Lara Day, using images and text to explore the lives of a community of Bangkok sex workers. I cannot begin to fathom how Katharina managed to gain the trust and confidence of her subjects to such a degree...and she says as such in her interview, and that the most important task in her project was to gain the trust of the sex workers and their clients. All serious photographers agree with her advice, since only full and complete mutual trust gained over months and months can make such intimate projects possible.

Katharina's has an impressive background. Not only is she a self-taught photographer (always a huge plus for me), but she initially worked as an assistant for German TV (ZDF) and then freelanced for Newsweek from 1996 to 2002. In 2003 and 2004 she covered China for Getty’s news service. Her images were featured in numerous publications such as Courrier International, Der Spiegel, D della Repubblica, EYEmazing, Zeit Magazin, Glamour (Germany), IO Donna, Die Zeit, Marie-Claire, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, Neon, Newsweek, 100Eyes.org , Reporters without borders(yearbook 2010, Germany), Stern, Time Asia, Vanity Fair (Italy/Germany), and Wired (Italy) among others.

Katharina's photographs of Xinjiang, Kashgar and Urumqi are probably the best I've seen of that region....so go to her website after you watch the above movie.

Tatiana Cardeal: Ancient China

Photo © Tatiana Cardeal-All Rights Reserved

Tatiana Cardeal is a photographer, a visual artist (and a dreamer). She's a Brazilian independent photographer based in Sao Paulo, who spent her early career as an art director and graphic designer for international magazines. In 2003, she shifted her focus to photography and started to document social, cultural and human right issues where she made her mark.

Her particular interest is in South American indigenous people, but she just featured really terrific photographs of China in this portfolio which she titled Ancient China. I suspect that it's brand new as some of its captions are yet incomplete.

Clients and publications of her images include work with Amnesty International, Childhood Foundation, OXFAM International, Fundación AVINA, The UN Institute for Disarmament Research, Forum Syd, World Pulse and the medias The Independent, WOZ newspaper, National Geographic Channel, Deutsche Welle, and the magazines The New Internationalist, Courrier International, Max, Plenty, Tomorrow, Oryx In-Flight, AFAR, WIENERIN, Annabelle,The Big Issue and YES!

Female Imams In China

Here's a multimedia feature on Female Imams in China by Sharron Lovell, a freelance photographer currently based between Tel Aviv and Shanghai, and represented by Polaris. She prefers storytelling over single images, and has covered a number of issues in China from HIV/Aids, Islam and internal migration.

Sharron also completed assignments on Afghanistan’s first elections and the commercial sex caste in Pakistan. Her work was featured in National Geographic, The Guardian, Le Monde, Newsweek, Global Post, Politiken and various UNICEF campaigns.

NPR informs us that China has an estimated 21 million Muslims, who have developed their own set of Islamic practices with Chinese characteristics. The biggest difference is the development of independent women's mosques with female imams, something scholars who have researched the issue say is unique to China. In most of the Muslim world, women pray behind a partition or in a separate room, but in the same mosque as men.

It seems the Qur'an does not address this issue, and it's debatable whether the practice in the Arab world is reflective of true Islam, and not the result of patriarchal (misogynist) interpretations of religious texts.

France Television: Portraits Of A New World

Here's a superb multimedia presentation guaranteed to knock your socks off.

It's part of a collection of 24 multimedia documentaries produced by France Télévisions. Portraits Of A New World is a narrative of the world of the 21st century, and the upheavals which transform and influence our destinies.

Unfortunately, it's only in French with no subtitles, which sadly reduces its internationalization and its appreciation by non-French speaking audience.

Having said that, take a look nevertheless at Journal of A Concubine which, in my view, is the segment that most beautifully merges the techniques of photojournalism and videojournalism.

In the era of pre-Communist China, wives and concubines lived under the same roof; in full sight and knowledge of everyone. The practice was legal and widely accepted. In 1949, it was made illegal by Mao as being a relic of feudalism, but has reappeared with a modern twist in the 1990s with the economic resurgence of China. Concubines are now viewed as a sign of wealth especially in business circles.

This being a French production, the nuanced difference between concubines and mistresses is explained. The latter do not expect gifts nor monetary rewards. Concubines do.

Seen on the incomparable Duckrabbit

Xiaomei Chen: Puzhu

Photo © Xiaomei Chen-All Rights Reserved

Hands in Chinese Hakka culture are often a metaphor for the ability to work and survive; a symbol for diligence. "If you have hands, you never beg" the Hakka say.

And so reads a caption under one of Xiaomei Chen's photographs in her Puzhu gallery.

Xiaomei Chen had to choose between a Phd and a camera, and the camera won. Since 2006, she has been documenting human lives with it, using her background in anthropology. She's currently living in the US, and works as a contractor at The Washington Post. Having been a teacher in south China, she's fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese and Hakka.

She embarked on a visual project documenting Puzhu, an obscure and shrinking village of 45 people in south China which mirrors what China has been going through in the past century. Farmers are leaving their land to earn better pay in the big cities such as Shanghai, leaving their centuries-old houses and way of life.

Puzhu In Transition was produced in partial fulfillment of a Masters of Art degree requirement for the School of Visual Communication at Ohio University. It consist of stills, video and a book.

The book is available for sale on Blurb.

Hamid Sardar: Mongolia

Hamid Sardar-Afkhami is a photographer and a scholar of Tibetan and Mongol languages with a Ph.D. from Harvard University. After moving to Nepal in the late 1980’s and exploring Tibet and the Himalayas for more than a decade, he traveled to Outer Mongolia, and determined to document its nomadic culture by setting a mobile studio ger camp in Mongolia. With his arsenal of cameras and different formats, he mounts yearly expeditions into the Mongolian outback to document her nomadic traditions.

Apart from the two movie documentaries (these are not short, and run for almost an hour), take a look at Hamid's photographic gallery titled Dark Heavens, which has color and platinum portfolios.

Photo © Hamid Sardar-All Rights Reserved

Impressive, huh? Especially since Hamid is able to combine the two imagery disciplines so well.

I was introduced to Hamid Sardar's work and website through The Empty Quarter Gallery newsletter.

Unknown City Beijing

Writing about the cruises that begin in Japanese ports, I found an interesting name of a city in China: Beijing. I've never heard about it and wanted to learn more. The first information I've seen in internet was a collection of photos of a couple of travellers with the explanations under every photo. So, I knew many interesting things.

The couple visited Forbidden City, the largest palatial complex in the world. There is a Temple of Heaven built without any nail or beam inside the complex. The Emperors prayed to have good year and waited for signs of good auspices on Chinese New Year there. You can see the Emperors in the procession every year even today. Sure, those are only shows to attract visitors but it has to be interesting to see, I think.

Посмотреть на Яндекс.Фотках

The next point of the itinerary of the couple was Tiananmen Gate, than they visited cooking courses for foreigners hold directly in the street. Imagin how interesting it is! I've never heard about such invention in other touristic places.

There is one of the largest and most important in the world Buddhist temples there, Lama Temple of Geluk School, where there are many treasures very important for every Buddhist; and there is a Chinese Muslims' Mosque (Niujie Mosque). I was surprized to read about it, I did not think there are even Chinese Muslims! And the building is interesting too, it comes from 996.

It's possible to visit Yuanming Yuan, ruins of the Old Summer Palace (ah, all royalities had summer and winter palaces!).

Do you like works of Franch architect Paul Andreu? Very beautiful airy buildings all over the world. There, in Beijing, you can see his Center for the Performing Arts.


«Ладья» на Яндекс.Фотках

And there are Beihai Park, a royal garden, Happy Valley, an amusement park, Beijing Zoo, where there are pandas and other rare Chinese animals, 798 Space Gallery a place for contemporary arts. You can visit Beijing Planning Exhibition and walk over the relief models of the city, the world's largest steel structure -the National Stadium, and surely the Great Wall.

Wow, but will it be enough a shore visit to see all these interesting places?

I was very curious: where is this city? And from the next site I learn it's... Peking!
By the way, did you know that Peking is one of the 4 historical capitals of China? Every dinasty had own capital: Beijing, Nanjing, Chang'an and Luoyang.

And to make this more inviting for you: if you look for cruise discounts and want to embark on October 25 , it will cost you only... you will not believe... a third part from the normal price of the cabin... And Ocean view? Have you seen the oceanview cabin price???

Beijing insider guides

If you are considering a trip to Beijing after being inspired by the Beijing Olympics' Opening Ceremony (or my own Cool Travel Guide to Beijing), then check out these insider guides to the city:
* The Beijinger is an excellent Beijing-based, English-language magazine and website with a weekly what's on guide including listings for every kind of arts and entertainment venue and event, from hip-hop clubs to Chinese opera performances. Check out their links to websites for hundreds of arts galleries, bars, restaurants, clubs, and more. They also produce local guidebooks, such as The Insider's Guide to Beijing, available online, including tips from 40 resident contributors, and indispensable immersion guides, such as a Mandarin phrasebook with a section on Beijing slang to a guide to using taxis (trust us, this will become more valuable to you than your Lonely Planet).
* Beijing Notebook is a blog by Suzie, an Italian-based German who until recently lived in Beijing for three years. Take a look at her 5 things to do when in Beijing, Beijing Shopping Where and How, and Beijing de Luxe: Cool Visits, Sees & Tastes. Suzie also has helpful links to sites such as the Beijing Weather Forecast and Daily Air Quality Report.
* 'After the Gold Rush: 20 ideas for your Beijing visit' in the Guardian's Travel section is by resident travel writer Damian Harper and includes superb suggestions ranging from hiring a bike to cycle the hutongs to doing a self-guided Maoist slogan tour. (You'll need that Mandarin phrase book for the latter of course.) The Guardian Travel also has Beijing insider tips and guides to top 10 shops and top 10 places to eat in Beijing.
* The Beijing Guide, the site of an American-operated, Beijing-based travel agency mainly exists to sell its tours, however, there's tonnes of other useful stuff on here, from restaurant and shopping reviews to practical tips like activating your mobile phones.

Point and shoot: is a spoiled photo opportunity a spoiled vacation?

By Terry Carter*
When we were last in Beijing a few summers ago and were visiting the star sights, including the Great Wall of China, the air was filled with a thick grey-brown smog, making decent photos impossible. But we still had a great time. In Italy recently, it also seemed like every significant sight in every city was covered in scaffolding, again making good photos impossible. It became a running joke between Lara and I that to find the duomo (a town's central cathedral, usually situated in the main square) we just had to look for a crane, scaffolding, or men-at-work signs. When you’ve been commissioned to shoot photographs of these sights it becomes more than a little frustrating. Instead of sending the book editors beautifully framed images of important attractions, we’re going to be sending way too many small detailed shots, to get around the scaffolding. Or sending snapshots from Lara's point-and-shoot camera to show the construction carnage with a suggestion that the editors procure a stock image for the sight if they want a wide-shot. As travellers (rather than travel writers), while we love doing the sights, we’re much more interested in exploring fascinating local neighbourhoods, seeking out bespoke shops and local artisans, and visiting restaurants that serve authentic regional foods and wines. But how does it affect your trip? What if you went to Paris and the Eiffel Tower was covered in scaffolding? Or Big Ben was having its clocks repaired? Or the Leaning Tower of Pisa was being propped up by engineering teams? How much does seeing - and photographing - the key sights matter to your travel experience? Do these things simply spoil your photo opportunity or can they spoil your trip? While holding the Olympics in Beijing during its smoggy summer period didn't seem to bother the International Olympic Committee, would you change your schedule if you knew a city's star attraction was invisible or out of order? We'd love to hear your thoughts.

*Terry is my husband, co-writer and a professional travel photographer.

Beijing's 2008 Olympics and its cinematic Opening Ceremony: spectacle and its power to inspire

Mesmerized, I marveled at the jaw-dropping spectacle of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Games, enjoying it more than any other opening ceremony I've watched before. Surely this feast for the imagination was the most arresting, audacious and innovative yet? With its epic scope, theatrical scale, dreamy atmosphere, and experimental film-like form more at home in a cutting-edge gallery of conceptual art than a popular sporting event, it was completely involving and entrancing. The lavish costumes, clever choreography and acrobatics, thousands of extras, innovative use of multimedia, and enchanting soundtrack by Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon composer Tan Dun were, for me, constant reminders of the qualities that have made contemporary Chinese cinema so compelling. Indeed, the creative director behind the extravagant show was none other than China's most gifted and celebrated filmmaker, Zhang Yimou, who made such captivating films as Raise the Red Lantern and House of Flying Daggers among others. The event was inspiring. It made me wish I was there. And it made me want to return to Beijing. It also reminded me of our summer in the city a few years ago. While a heavy smog clouded Beijing for the whole of our stay - as it will the sporting events during these coming days - we still had an amazing time. It was one of those trips where, while having our expectations continually met - from eating the most delicious Peking Duck we've ever eaten to seeing Pekingese dogs in the hutong alleyways - we still found ourselves being constantly dismayed (the time we stumbled across a charming traditional performance of Chinese opera by amateurs at a simple teahouse in the basement of a modern shopping mall) and delighted (our afternoon spent piloting our own boat around Kunming Lake at the Summer Palace). Pictured? Costumed staff at the Summer Palace. It was very Raise the Red Lantern. So, did the Opening Ceremony inspire you to book a ticket to Beijing?

The Cool Travel Guide to Beijing

Just in case you're now wishing you were at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games after seeing the spectacular Opening Ceremony, and are inspired to book a flight... check out my Cool Travel Guide to Beijing. By no means exhaustive, it's simply a list of favorite things to do in the smoggy city.
What to do: The main main must-see sights are the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Great Wall of China (a day trip), and Temple of Heaven. Once over the disappointment of finding out the Forbidden City has a Starbucks inside, and it's almost always smoggy out at the Great Wall too, work your way through this list:
* Kick back at Houhai Lake - stroll around this lovely leafy lake, shop in the stores in renovated old buildings (you'll find everything from 'antiques' to Indian hippy clothes), or simply hang out and do some people-watching at the al fresco lakeside cafes, restaurants, bars and clubs. There's no denying it's touristy, but it is fun. Whatever you do, don't join one of those silly rickshaw tours.
* Explore Beijing's last remaining hutongs - few of the city's hutongs (historic neighbourhoods of narrow alleyways with traditional low-rise courtyard houses) still exist; many were bulldozed as part of a 'urban makeover' for the Olympics. Those that remain are fascinating places to explore, whether gentrified, their renovated buildings turned into hip hotels and private clubs, or remaining authentic, their gritty alleys home to tiny grocery stores and hole-in-the-wall eateries, where kids play in the streets and old folks sit and watch the world go by. Give the organized hutong tours a miss and explore: see this list here and images here for inspiration.
* Shop for Communist kitsch at Panjiayuan Market - this fantastic market is one of our world favorites. Not only is this the place to shop for communist-era trinkets and propaganda posters (sure, they're replicas, but who cares), 'antiques' (ditto) and bric-a-brac, as well as Chinese handicrafts, including vibrant tribal textiles, but it's also great for people-watching.
* Browse the galleries at 798 Dashanzi Arts District This hip neighbourhood of art galleries, artists studios, art supply shops, tea houses and cafes is a delight to explore. Decorative calligraphy brushes and contemporary art make cool souvenirs.
Where to eat: Qianmen Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant for a quintessential Beijing experience. Everyone has eaten here, from celebrities to visiting dignitaries (from Fidel Castro to Yasser Arafat!), and after working our way through a whole succulent Peking Duck (pictured) we understood why. The Quanjude family claim to have been serving duck at this location since the Qing Dynasty. A digital clock ticks over each time a duck is served and while I'm know it didn't exist in Emporer Tongzhi's time, the clock records how many ducks they've served since they started in 1864. As our succulent bird was brought to our table to be carved in front of us, it ticked over to 115,081,852.
Other memorable dining experiences included stunning, contemporary Asian cuisine in a chic and sleek setting at Jing, at the Peninsula Beijing; intriguing dishes that were favorites of Chairman Mao's at the atmospheric Red Capital Club; a fascinating meal at the much-written-about Green T-House where the decor and diners were arguably as interesting as the cuisine; and delicious meals at a dozen other no-name plastic tablecloth eateries that dished up some of the most mouthwatering food we've ever eaten.
Where to stay: We'd wanted to stay at the much-talked-about Red Capital Residence, but as it was booked up we checked into the charming Lu Song Yuan hotel, listed in all the guidebooks. A warning: while our stay was fine, the hotel attempted to draw upon our credit card months after our trip. A glitch perhaps? The hotel still gets good reviews on hotel booking sites, as does a similar property, the Bamboo Garden Hotel. We stayed at the tranquil Red Capital Ranch not far from the Great Wall one night, where we ate unusual meals made from garden greens, herbs and flowers.
How to get there: Emirates connects cities in Europe and the Middle East with Beijing via Dubai while Cathay Pacific does a good job of getting the rest of the world there via Hong Kong.