TravelStream™ news feed for member tomcarter on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/tomcarter en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:15:24 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1230624660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1230624660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1230624660/tpod.html Tue, 30 Dec 2008 03:15:24 -0500 Tom Carter | Photojournalist Specializing in China

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Hong Kong, China


As Thomas Carter's new photobook CHINA: Portrait of a People makes its debut as the most comprehensive book of photography on modern China ever published by a single author, literati and the press are unable to hold back their acclaim. Following are excerpts from the praise CHINA: Portrait of a People continues to receive from readers and media reviewers:


"The collection of 800 photos paints a beautiful, comprehensive portrait of China and its people in a way that words never could." - the Beijinger (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"China: Portrait of a People is a snapshot of an entire country in a time of great change; a truthful and touching portrayal of the Chinese people in all their variety, charm and earthiness. As such, even if it does not turn out a best-seller, it will have lasting value as a social document. This isn't a coffee table book of the Great Wall or the quintessentially Chinese landscapes of Guilin. It isn't a travel book either, although it may well inspire many to come see China for themselves." - China.Org (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"Instead of similar photo books, China: Portrait of a People (published by Blacksmith Books, 635 pages, 280 yuan) is a more portable volume. Rather than focus on geographic, landscape or sight-seeing photos, Carter focuses on the distinct features and lifestyles that define the nation's 56 ethnic groups collected in 33 provinces." - Beijing Today (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"CHINA: Portrait of a People is not to be dismissed as another light-hearted snapshot collection. But neither is it heavy socio-political commentary. Photojournalist-cum-travel writer Tom Carter has successfully struck a fine balance between the two, dividing the 600-plus pages of annotated photography into 33 chapters, a document of the two years he spent travelling in different Chinese provinces." - HK Magazine (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"Tom Carter gets around. Thirty three provinces, 56 ethnic cultures, 10,000 portraits. The 35-year-old American spent two years on the road photographing people from every nook and cranny in China for his ambitious 640-page coffee-table book, CHINA: Portrait of a People. His stated mission: To dispel the stereotype of the Chinese as a homogeneous single nationality." - Urbanatomy Shanghai (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"For those who read more in a twinkling eye or a lined brow than in a slate roof, (CHINA: Portrait of a People) is a revelation, providing a more honest picture of this turbulent land than a rack of China travel books pre-approved by the Ministry of Information." - China Expat (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"Tom gives us an incredible insight to the people of China, from poor to wealthy, young to old. You can see he gets into their culture and delivers a fabulous insider view, capturing emotions through the lens. Each region has a selection of Tom's photos with brief, but informative captions. It's not a travel guide or a photography technique guide but it will keep you enthralled for hours at a time." - ePhotozine (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"Doing business in China is all about getting to know the Chinese people and their culture. Precisely what this stunning book by Tom Carter has to offer. Eye opener!" - China Success Stories (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"Travel photos taken by a stranger seldom fascinate. But 800 color images captured by Tom Carter as he spent two years on the road, traveling 56,000 kilometers through all of China's 33 provinces, make a dramatic exception... Carter's weighty book takes an effort to carry home from a store. But anyone interested in China should love owning it." - Cairns Media Magazine (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"The images veer between the light-hearted (laughing children playing on a sand dune in Gansu), titillating (a pair of female KTV hostesses in Shandong lean in for a kiss), appalling (a mentally ill girl lies in the middle of the road as cars just pass her by), and thought provoking (the worn and sunburned face of a destitute old Tibetan lady). But there is a constant - the peering visages of all ethnicities, of all China. Through Carter's journey of self-discovery, we end up discovering a little more about ourselves - and a land so vast, so disparate, that 638 pages of photos barely manage to scratch the surface. Still, Portrait of a People is a very good place to start peeling back the layers." - Time Out (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"'Tom Carter is an extraordinary photographer whose powerful work captures the heart and soul of the Chinese people." - Anchee Min, author of Red Azalea and Empress Orchid (read the entire China Portrait review here)
"Tom Carter's photo book is an honest and objective record of the Chinese and our way of life- his camera leads us through 33 wide-sweeping scenes of the real and the surreal." - Mian Mian, author of Candy (read the entire China Portrait review here)

"It takes a great boldness of spirit to set out to capture the essence of so diverse a people as the Chinese in a single volume of photography. The thrill is to discover that Tom Carter has achieved just that." - Asia Literary Review (read the entire China Portrait review here)

"As photojournalist Tom Carter discovered on his journey across China, to know the true spirit and culture of a place, you must look into the faces of its people." - MiNDFOOD magazine (read the entire China Portrait review here)

"Tom Carter is a guerrilla hit-and-run photojournalist with a camera instead of a grenade launcher. To take the up-close and personal pictures in Portrait of a People, Carter risked jail; almost froze on the way to Tibet; faced exhaustion and hunger; was beaten by drunks; plagued by viral infections; and risked being shot by North Korean border guards. The hundreds of photos in Portrait are priceless. I doubt if there will ever be another book about China like this one." - Lloyd Lofthouse, author of My Splendid Concubine (read the entire China Portrait review here)
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Click here to purchase CHINA: Portrait of a People
Join the China Portrait fan page on FaceBook. Also check out the cool China Portrait video on YouTube. Check out these China Postcards. Join the China Portrait discussions. Browse China Portrait news. Read the China Portrait interview.
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Lhasa, Tibet, China

CHINA PHOTO BOOK BUILDS BRIDGE OF HEALING
Tom Carter's CHINA: Portrait of a People captures diversity of 33 Chinese provinces



Beijing, China - As the 2008 Summer Olympics commence, all eyes are on China. But far from being the celebration envisaged by Chinese leaders, the first six months of 2008 have seen unrest in Tibet, worldwide protests against the Olympic torch and the devastating earthquake in Sichuan.

This attention has raised new curiosity: Who are the Chinese? How do they live, work and play? How much do we really know about the 1.3 billion people who inhabit this vast country?

These questions are visually answered in Tom Carter's CHINA: Portrait of a People, the most comprehensive book of photography on modern China ever published by a single author.

Carter, a San Francisco City native, spent 2 years backpacking 56,000 kilometers (35,000 miles) across the vast Middle Kingdom to visit over 200 cities and villages, including some of the most remote locations in the country: from the steaming jungles of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan to the frozen banks of the Amur River in Manchuria. En route, he discovered and photographed immense geographic and ethnic diversity.

"What the photographs herein reveal is that China is not just one place, one people, but 33 distinct regions populated by 56 different ethnicities, each with their own languages, customs and lifestyles," writes China expert Carter in his introduction. "It is my most sincere hope that this book unites the people immortalized in its pages - Tibetan pilgrims and Beijing scholars, Uyghur Muslims and Shanghai bankers, Hong Kong millionaires and Shanxi miners - in celebration of their glorious cultures.

Publisher Pete Spurrier of Blacksmith Books remarked: There are several books of photography already on the market that focus on China's history or famous sites, but CHINA: Portrait of a People is the first of this scope by a single author devoted to Chinese PEOPLE! Tom Carter has single-handedly photographed almost every aspect of life humanity across the PRC."

CHINA: Portrait of a People includes a forward by celebrated Chinese authoress Anchee Min (Red Azalea, Empress Orchid) who says "Tom Carter is an extraordinary photographer whose powerful work captures the heart and soul of the Chinese people." Shanghai rebel writer Mian Mian (Candy, La la la) writes the epilogue: "Tom Carter's photo book is an honest and objective record of the Chinese and our way of life..."

###

CHINA: Portrait of a People, by Tom Carter
Genre: Travel / Photography / Art / China
ISBN: 978-988-99799-42
Size: 15cm x 15cm, soft cover, 640 pages, 800 full color images, with maps of each province
Published: Summer 2008 by Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong, in association with Haven Books
Price: US$35.95
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1196304300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1196304300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1196304300/tpod.html Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:46:14 -0500 Tom Carter | Photojournalist Specializing in China

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Beijing, China

Today's Chinese nightclubs (Yezonghui) vary from their western counterparts in that headshaking (an effect of Chinese "Yaotouwan" Ecstasy pills) and a trampoline floor replace actual dancing, while ceaseless DJ call-and-response over really bad Euro-House techno substitutes for music.

In addition to the go-go girls in their revealingly short skirts and platform boots, Chinese "Diting" megaclubs usually pay young ladies (wunü) to populate their dance floors in an effort to attract male patrons. However any attempt to approach these girls can be expected to be met with vacant stares and disinterest.

Filmed circa 2004 by China photojournalist Tom Carter, author of 'CHINA: Portrait of a People,' a definitive 600-page volume of street photography on today's China, coming winter 2007 from Hong Kong publisher Blacksmith Books.

http://www.tomcarter.org
http://www.blacksmithbooks.com/China_portrait_Q&A.htm
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Hong Kong, China

An Interview With China Photojournalist Tom
Carter

American photo-journalist Tom Carter has spent the past four years in
the People's Republic of China, traversing all 33 provinces and autonomous
regions not just once but twice. The San Francisco native's hardback book, a
definitive 800-image volume aptly entitled CHINA: Portrait of a People, is due
out this winter from Hong Kong publisher Blacksmith Books. Tom took a day off
from travelling to discuss the challenges of taking pictures in China, how he
evaded censorship in the tightly-controlled republic, and to share a few insider
tips on visiting what is to become the world's largest tourism market.


Your upcoming book focuses heavily on photographs of people,
from peasants to punk rockers, ethnic groups to entrepreneurs. As a lone
foreigner in a faraway country, how did you approach so many strangers, let
alone become intimate enough with them to take their
portraits?

Most of my photos came about as a natural result of my curiosity and
interaction with Chinese people during my travels. It wasn't until the end of my
trip that I thought about compiling them into a book. This is a tribute to all
the people I met along the way.
For the portraits, it just takes a sincere
interest in your subjects to get that close. I don't believe in hiding behind a
zoom lens; I was actually as near to all those people as you see in the
pictures, sometimes just inches away. The candid life shots, which comprise a
good third of the book, were actually more of a challenge. As a foreigner
walking down the street in China, all activity stops the moment you are seen, so
it's tricky to photograph life before life stops to stare at you.
I don't
believe any book can capture the true spirit of a country with only pictures of
places. Sure, a photo of a sunset over the Great Wall is nice, but what do you
really learn from it? I wanted to show the people, and dispel the stereotype of
the Chinese as a homogeneous single nationality.

You must speak the language pretty well.

That's the very first question I always get from other expats I meet in
China! It humbles me to admit that my Putonghua borders on offensively poor. I
taught English when I first arrived in China, which left me no time to formally
study Mandarin. I picked up my entire vocabulary while travelling. I call it
Survival Chinese. I can communicate, but I'm usually left out of the gossiping
granny circles. A friendly smile works well when all else fails. I might add,
though, that Chinese dialects vary widely by province, so even most nationals
have trouble understanding other Chinese outside their own hometowns.

You say you came to China as an English teacher, but four years
later you're a published photojournalist and author. Did you plan this career
move?

Never, but that's China for you, a real land of opportunity. Teaching was
just a means to an end, which was travelling. Out of that first long year on the
road sprung my collection of photos, which resulted in a book contract and
travel assignments from various periodicals, which brought me full circle back
to my second spin around China. I believe I stand apart from my contemporaries
in that I'm not sitting around a cushy foreign correspondents' club "networking"
[makes mock quotes with his fingers] and waiting for my next assignment; I'm out
on the road finding my own. But maybe that's why Reuters still hasn't called
me.

You've had a few run-ins with Chinese censorship of your images
and articles. Care to share?

The concept of Freedom of the Press, something the west takes for granted,
is still entirely alien in Communist China. The media is state-run and every
single word and image that comes in and out of the country needs to be approved
by the Ministry of Information. Crazy, huh? But since I'm an independent
freelancer without the backing of any news agency, I lack official journalist
credentials. Most of my images I've had to get the hard way, which has often
resulted in confrontations with local authorities who view foreign
correspondents as a threat.
For example, for the three single frames of
coal miners with soot-covered faces that appear in this book, I and my Chinese
travelling companion had to spend several days in the mountains of South Shanxi
before we were able to sneak into a coal mine, grab a few shots then get the
hell out before being caught. Mining is one of the most dangerous and
controversial occupations in China, and is entirely off limits to journalists.
Some of my best photos are hit-and-run like that.

There's one incident in particular I want to hear about: a
peasant riot that you photographed and which almost got you arrested. Tell us
about that.

To be caught up in a proletarian uprising - something both foreign and
Chinese reporters in China rarely even hear about, due to rapid suppression of
information, let alone eye-witness - was extremely frightening but probably one
of the book's most powerful images. I was subsequently "implored" by the local
police to hand over all my photos, under penalty of incarceration, but a couple
have managed to slip into the book [winks mischievously]. I'm still in China and
would like to be able to leave without a trip to the clink, so it's not
something I can talk about in further detail, nor can we make the photo public
until the book is on the shelves.

Guerilla-style documentary photography is something you are
obviously proud of. Someone said you have "turned mundane daily life in China
into a work of art" but one reviewer wrote that your photographs are "an assault
on ordinary people who should be left alone." What's your take on such extreme
responses?

Which one was the criticism? [Laughs] Actually, I prefer the term 'street
photography', because that's exactly what I do. I'm out pounding the pavement
from 6am to 6pm every day, learning about the culture through observation and
interaction. Many photojournalists cover their assignments as quickly as
possible so they can remove themselves from the elements, but I revel in the
elements. I don't have any technical or artistic preconceptions to my photos.
The whole idea of spending an hour setting up a shot and then photoshopping it
to death afterwards is not what I'm about. I just capture life as it is, then
move on. If the picture turns out crooked, so what! Life is crooked!
I have
no desire to make something palatable, even if it means not getting on Getty. On
the other hand, any of my photos that are considered beautiful I credit entirely
to my subjects. They are the ones who deserve the compliments.

China really is a vast country to explore, and you have been to
every corner of it - 33 provinces and over 200 cities and villages. Travelling
for a living sounds like a life of leisure, but what's the
reality?

You know, for all the tourism I've promoted for China with my photos and
travel articles, you'd think the CNTA [China National Tourism Administration]
could at least have comped my hotels. But the truth is I've never received a
cent in financial backing. During the two years I spent travelling across China,
I slept in 15 RMB [2 USD] flophouses with particleboard walls - which are
illegal for foreigners to stay in - with the occasional youth hostel or night on
a bus station floor. I taught English for two straight years beforehand so I
could save up to travel, and I really had to pinch my pennies to make it last.
The upside is that my insolvency resulted in experiences that staying at the
Sheraton could never produce.

All travellers are running away from something. What's your
excuse?

I come from a long line of nomads - my mother a Danish immigrant of good
Viking stock and my father a hybrid Panamanian-Cuban-Italian - so drifting is in
my blood. It's my dream to travel the world, take pictures and write about it. I
have no intention of succumbing to that thirtysomething syndrome of settling
down. The world is my home.

So what day-to-day difficulties did you encounter during your
marathon journey across China?

You mean hour-to-hour difficulties. My photos might excite a lot of
potential tourists, but I'm not going to sugar-coat the reality of actually
travelling in China. The consensus among backpackers is that China is probably
the single most challenging country in the world to navigate. Aside from the
obvious language barriers, you have 5,000-year old customs and extreme cultural
differences that can be quite vexing for the typical westerner. Most of these
nuances are not something that you can catch on film; travellers have to
discover them for themselves, and that's part of the fun.

What keeps you going?

I delight in the challenges that a country like China poses to westerners.
Sure, I occasionally catch myself pounding the wall in frustration, but the
thing about the PRC is that every turn is a new adventure. For me there's
nothing worse than being bored, and boredom is just not possible in China. See
these lines on my face? They weren't there before.

How did you plan your routes?

I haven't planned a single route since I arrived in China four years ago. I
just point myself in a direction, then let life carry me on its current. Not
only does every Chinese person you ask where to go have an excitedly different
opinion - even about which way is north - but there are so many undiscovered
villages that are off the charts. Not to mention that the time it takes to get
to these places is often days longer than how it appears on a map, making an
itinerary kind of pointless.

Tell us more about surprises along the way, and any dangerous
situations you've been in.

Surprises are the rule, not the exception. In addition to clashes with the
authorities over my pictures, I've had everything from a near-lethal bout of
encephalitis during my first year in China, to getting shanghaied by crooked
English schools, which I wrote about for the Wall Street Journal. One of my
favourites is the time I found myself at the business end of a North Korean
machine gun when I accidentally crossed into the DPRK at Changbaishan. These are
all stories I can laugh about now, though my mother doesn't think so.

It's said that China is now undergoing the most prolonged
period of sustained change in history. How has it changed since you have lived
there, and how will it change in the near future?

I think China's most dramatic changes have been brought on by itself and
that the now-clichéd term "New China" was something methodically planned out in
their boardrooms. The Chinese government is addicted to what I call
hyper-urbanization. You've got historic cities like Beijing, where they are
bulldozing these ancient hutongs by the hour so they can build office towers, or
the 2,000-year-old village of Gongtan in Chongqing that is going to be levelled
this summer for a new power plant. I wrote an article about Gongtan for a local
magazine but it was quickly quashed because the censorship bureau said "We don't
want to bring any attention to that place." These contrasts in architecture
appear in my book because I feel it is imperative to capture this last glimpse
of China's old slate rooftops before the skyline becomes pure steel and glass.
CHINA: Portrait of a People will probably become a history book, something
Chinese people will look at twenty years from now and say "Ah yes, I remember."


It seems like everyone wants to know more about China these
days. Do you see more people planning on visiting the
country?

China will become the world's largest tourism destination of the next
decade, no doubt about it. The 2008 Beijing Olympics and Shanghai's World Expo
in 2010 are expected to attract between 50 to 100 million tourists annually.
China's doors were closed for so long that it's only natural the world is
curious about what's behind them. What the pictures in Portrait of a People are
doing is fuelling this curiosity by offering an intimate glimpse of humanity in
China, and scenes of daily life that even publications like National Geographic
overlook.

You're something of an authority now on Chinese travel. Can you
offer any tips for travellers?

Well, what China wants tourists to see is often at variance with what is
actually marvellous about the country. You've got these highly-sheltered tour
group packages that cover the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Terracotta Warriors
in Shaanxi, a boat ride on the Yangtze and shopping in Shanghai [makes yawning
noise]. Or you can remove yourself from the souvenir shops and luxury hotels,
get a local street map and travel on word-of-mouth. Lonely Planet would go
bankrupt if people actually took my travel advice, but you definitely see more
of the real China my way.

Finally, what's next for someone who's been everywhere in
China?

My publisher and I have been talking about taking the "Portrait of a
People" concept to other countries in the region. I would jump at the chance. So
I have no idea where I'll be this time next year.

Tom Carter's travel articles and pictures have appeared in
every major English-language periodical in China. He is available for interview
by phone or email. Sample photos from CHINA: Portrait of a People can be viewed
at TOM CARTER (Flash plugin required). High-resolution
images for media use are available for immediate download at http://www.blacksmithbooks.com/China_portrait_preview.htm.

Further Information: Pete Spurrier at Blacksmith Books - (+852)
2877 7899 - pete@blacksmithbooks.com
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Gongtan, China

Gongtan, Chongqing
by Tom Carter

In four months or less, a 1,700-year-old village, and the mountain life it
preserves, will see water seep through the ancient wood homes, rising higher and
higher, until it is completely submerged beneath the jade shoals of the Wu
River.
Gongtan of the Youyang Tujia-Miao Autonomous County in southeast Chongqing
will unfortunately meet the same fate as countless other unprotected historical
sites across China being leveled in the name of innovation.
In its place, the Pengshui Hydro Power Plant will be resurrected, not exactly
an attractive replacement for the antiquated beauty of Gongtan, but nonetheless
a much-needed jolt for a municipality suffering from regular power outages.
Controversial waterworks are nothing new to Chongqing, the largest inland
river port in West China. The Three Gorges Dam project along the Yangtze, one of
China's crucial transportation arteries linking the country's interior with
coastal provinces, is essential to the region's freight and power industries,
but as a result saw numerous small towns and nature reserves sacrificed to the
river gods.
Now, one of the Yangtze's chief tributaries, the Wu River, has also been
targeted for its hydro-electrical attributes, sparing neither nature nor culture
to ensure that all of Chongqing's neon lights continue to glow brightly.
Ironically, Gongtan has never known neon and was only recently introduced to
electricity. For centuries accessible only by boat, Gongtan is home to the Tujia
people, one of China's more isolated ethnic minorities who hale from the
surrounding Wuling Mountains.
Founded in 200 A.D., the rustic village is a living museum that might seem
more destined as a World Heritage Site than a construction site. Designed
entirely out of stone and wood in the diaojiaolou-style stilt architecture, the
Ming dynasty-era homes are perched against the sloping gorge, facing the sheer,
misty palisades which flank the Wu rapids.
Steep, mossy steps lead up from the rocky banks and a single, black flagstone
path, polished from centuries of footsteps, traces the 2 kilometer length of the
quiet village, a veritable portrait of mountain life as it has been for almost
2,000 years. The slat-wood buildings progress vertically, each offering an
increasingly attractive panoramic vista of slate rooftops, the hallmark site of
this ancient village.
Unfortunately, the intricately carved work of art that is Gongtan will soon
be thrown together in a fateful pyre as the Tujia populous move several
kilometers upriver to a white-tiled eyesore already suffering from the noise,
pollution and congestion indicative of so many new side-of-the-road Chinese
communities.
The land expropriation was in fact opposed by Gongtan residents, who
successfully petitioned the central government in Beijing over the property
confiscation and were awarded financial compensation for their centuries-old
homes. Nonetheless, many Gongtan villagers still refuse to evacuate the aged
neighborhood, thus delaying power plant construction until at least the fall of
2007.
This last-ditch effort to damn the dam is of course no match for the
bulldozers, but it at least leaves an extended window of opportunity for
travelers with an affinity for Chinese history to catch one last glimpse of the
real deal before Gongtan is inevitably sent to its watery grave.

Travel Tips Getting there: From Chongqing, catch a morning coach from the
east bus station to Pengshui (six hours, ¥90), then a taxi to the local ferry
terminal for an upriver boat to Gongtan (five hours, ¥20).
Where to stay: There are several family-run guesthouses directly overlooking
the Wu River with simple, creaky wood rooms wallpapered with old newspaper (¥30
per bed).
China
photographer Tom Carter is the author of CHINA: Portrait of a People, 888
snapshots of life and humanity from the 33 provinces of the People's Republic of
China, due out this winter from Hong Kong publisher Blacksmith Books.
This article was originally published in a July 2007 edition of City Weekend magazine.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512440/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512440/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512440/tpod.html Sun, 19 Aug 2007 04:35:25 -0400 Tom Carter | Photojournalist Specializing in China

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Langmusi, China

Langmusi, Sichuanby Tom Carter

Murmuring an unbroken stream of prayers, and focused intently on a scarlet
and silver monastery bathed in morning light and incense smoke, four Tibetan
women fell to their hands and knees in succession. They laid face down before
standing up to clasp their hands in prayer for their three hundredth prostrate
atop the snow-dusted hilltop on the Sichuan side of Langmusi.
But the solemn chants of these devout Buddhists soon dissolved into the
self-conscious giggles of young girls upon sensing the presence of a foreigner.
Using the moment as an entertaining respite from their prayers, they beckoned to
see the pictures I had just taken of them, the site of themselves on my digital
camera bringing even louder laughter.
Located at an altitude of some 3,000 meters in the mountains of western
China, and literally straddling the Gansu-Sichuan border, the rustic,
plank-rooftop settlement of Langmusi, and the two glittering Buddhist temples of
which the town architecturally and spiritually orbits, is one of those places
that can best be described as heavenly.
Gansu itself is one of China's most dramatically varying regions both
topographically and culturally, extending in a long, narrow arch from the
mountain-sized sand dunes of Dunhuang in the northern Hexi corridor to the
verdant Ganjia grasslands in the provincial interior.
South of the Muslim metropolises of Langzhou and Lingxia, gleaming mosques
become sub-bleached stupas and the white-capped Hui people relinquish the
landscape to prismatic Tibetans spinning prayer wheels beneath the surreal blue
sky, living up to its provincial sobriquet, "Little Lhasa."
Following their morning prayers, the three pretty sisters and their mother,
each regally draped in heavy, black cloaks and adorned with layers of florescent
orange coral necklaces and hefty belts of silver, invited me back to their home.

It wasn't their real home, they explained, but temporary living quarters.
Like so many of the Sichuanese-Tibetans who comprise the town's nomadic
population, they were completing their pilgrimage to the Langmusi and Labuleng
monasteries in nearby Xiahe before making their way back home to northern
Sichuan.
Nestled within a small community of shanties, their humble clay dwelling was
no larger than the sleeper cabin of a train and housed this family of six.
Keeping the fire burning, preparing lunch and babysitting his baby granddaughter
when we arrived, was the patriarch of the family.
His own three daughters ranged in age from 16 to 25 and received only basic
schooling, preferring to raise families and follow their parents on their
spiritual pilgrimages. Income, most which was spent on such journeys, is earned
by the father and the elder sister's husband, who breed horses in the Sichuan
highlands.
I asked the father and mother to which Tibetan ethnolinguistic category they
belonged (i.e. Aba, Chabao-Jiarong, Zhugqu), but the father admitted he didn't
know; he was, he said, simply Tibetan. Indeed, such classifications are made by
a government on the other side of the country, not Tibetans themselves.
For Tibetans, family and faith, not politics and ethnic divisions, are the
most important aspects of their lives. Unfortunately, only the family's father
and mother have made the arduous and expensive pilgrimage to the holy capital
city of Lhasa in the Tibet Autonomous Region, a journey that takes many
Sichuanese- Tibetans years to save for, lest they must beg on the streets for
alms to make their way west. But the three sisters are saving their jiao and
listened in awe as I told of my own extensive travels the previous year across
Tibet.
Promising to send them the family portraits I took, we professed our mutual
thanks and respect and parted ways, they to spend the second half of their day
making 400 koras (spiritual walking circuits) around Langmusi and me to watch,
though now with a better understanding of who I was watching.
Travel Tips / How to get there: From the capital city of Langzhou in Gansu,
buses for Hezuo leave the south bus station every half hour and take
approximately five hours. An overnight stay in Hezuo is necessary as there is
only one bus per day to Langmusi, departing at 7 a.m.
Where to stay: There are a growing number of inns and hotels on Langmusi's
only thoroughfare, from ¥20 to ¥150 per night.
What to eat: Leisha's is a favorite with backpackers, boasting massive yak
burgers and homemade apple pie.
Where to play: Pilgrim watching around the Sezhi Monastery on the Sichuan
side or the Geerdeng Monastery on the Gansu side is always fun, along with a
scenic walking trail and fairy caves to explore around the Namo Gorge.
China photographer Tom
Carter is the author of CHINA: Portrait of a People, 888 snapshots of life and
humanity from the 33 provinces of the People's Republic of China, due out this
winter from Hong Kong publisher Blacksmith Books.
This article was originally published in a June 2007 edition of City Weekend magazine.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512380/tpod.html Sun, 19 Aug 2007 04:34:10 -0400 Tom Carter | Photojournalist Specializing in China

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Beijing, China

AMERICAN PHOTO JOURNALIST TOM CARTER COMPLETES GROUNDBREAKING 33-PROVINCE
JOURNEY ACROSS CHINA
Epic trip lands book
deal with Hong Kong publisher Blacksmith Book s
Beijing, China - American photojournalist Tom Carter today announced
the completion of a groundbreaking journey throughout all 33 Chinese provinces
and autonomous regions, and took his place amongst the few living Westerners
able to make the claim.
With limited
Chinese language skills and an even more limited budget, Carter backpacked alone
across the vast 9.6 million sq. km. Middle Kingdom, visiting over 200 cities and
villages.
"I'm exhausted
and broke, but it feels good to join the elite ranks of the few in history who
have had the ambition and the energy to see China in its entirety - Marco, Mao
and Tom!" said the jubilant San Francisco native.
Commencing in
early 2004, Carter's expedition included some of the most remote locations in
the country: from the steaming jungles of Xishuangbanna in Yunnan to the frozen
banks of the Amur River in Manchuria; from the sun-baked deserts of Xinjiang to
the kungfu kingdom of Shaolin; from the Yellow Sea to the Himalayas. En route,
he discovered and photographed immense geographic and ethnic diversity.
Carter's
epic trip highlights what is to become the world's largest tourism market of the
next decade. The 2008 Beijing Olympics and Shanghai's World Expo in 2010 are
expected to attract between 50-100 million inbound tourists annually to the
People's Republic.
A freelance
photojournalist by trade, Carter also announced a book contract with Hong Kong
publisher Blacksmith Books, who will release the author's stunning photos in a
compact souvenir-sized volume entitled CHINA: Portrait of a People.
Remarked publisher Pete Spurrier: "Living and travelling in China can be a
challenge for foreigners, and yet Tom has single-handedly and strikingly
photographed almost every aspect of humanity in the PRC. This book is a
must-have for tourists, expats, photo enthusiasts and anyone with an interest in
what today's China is really like."
"Some would like
to present an air-brushed version of China to the outside world," Spurrier
added. "Tom's pictures show China like it really is - and the natural warmth of
the Chinese people shines through in every frame."
Notes for
Editors
Tom Carter's
travel articles and pictures have appeared in every major English-language
periodical in China. He is available for interview by phone or email.
Sample photos
from CHINA: Portrait of a People can be viewed at http://www.tomcarter.org
(Flash plugin required). High-resolution images for media use are available for
immediate download at http://www.blacksmithbooks.com/China_portrait_preview.htm.

Blacksmith Books
will be previewing CHINA: Portrait of a People at the Hong Kong Book Fair
in July.
Book
Details
Title:
CHINA: Portrait of a People
ISBN-13: &nbs p; &nbs p;
978-988-99799-4-2
Format: &nbsp ; &nbsp ; Hardback, full colour, 800
pages
Publication date: & nbsp; Winter 2007
Cover
price: TBC
Purchase link: & nbsp; www.blacksmithbooks.com/9789889979942.htm

Cover price includes free international delivery.
Further Information
Pete Spurrier at Blacksmith Books: tel. (+852) 2877
7899 - pete@blacksmithbooks.com

END
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512260/tpod.html Sun, 19 Aug 2007 04:32:38 -0400 Tom Carter | Photojournalist Specializing in China

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Shaolin Si, China

Shaolin Si, Henan
by Tom Carter

"Let's see your Tiger-Crane style match my Eagle's Claw!"

Ah, the
immortal words of dueling Shaolin warriors. Though dialog like this is mainly
the stuff of low-budget Hong Kong movies, there is in fact a place where such
challenges are still uttered. Not to the death, of course, but between students
at Shaolin Si, China's most famous Kung Fu temple.

Located atop the
western peak of the sacred Song Shan Mountain in northern Henan province, 800
year-old Shaolin Si has been destroyed and rebuilt time and again, weathering
attacks by emperors, warlords, cultural revolutions, and now its most
reoccurring invaders - the modern tour group.

In fact, not until the
advent of the 1970s Kung Fu movie craze and the popular 1982 film "Shaolin
Temple," did annual tourism perform a CGI-like leap from 200,000 to 2 million,
prompting the Chinese government to list the temple as a protected heritage
site.

But while the venerable temple gates see an almost endless stream
of tourists wishing to get a glimpse of a real-life Shaolin monk and take in a
demonstration performance, a more permanent residence of Kung Fu enthusiasts
exists in the outlying hillsides.

These are the sons and daughters of
Shaolin, young students who have given up secular life for a strict regimen and
forsaken conventional curriculum for physical conditioning. At Shaolin Si, the
sword is truly mightier than the pen.

-CROUCHING
TIGERS-

Kung Fu (Gungfu in Mandarin) was originally a Chan
Buddhist practice with the dual purpose of purifying the soul and building
strength through Zen spiritual doctrine and martial arts.

Shaolin priests
complimented their monastic ways by harnessing their life force with meditation
and releasing this energy, or Qi, through practical offense and defense
maneuvers, something traditionalists complain has been diluted over the
centuries for the thrill of competition and the vanity of
exhibition.

Opening up the temple to outsiders began in the mid-16th
century, whence military officers of the Ming Dynasty court attended Shaolin to
study the monks' unique fighting techniques. Resultingly, today's Kung Fu
schools have become big business.

The oldest and perhaps most visible
school, the Wushu Institute at Tagou, is at the front entrance of Shaolin Si
itself. One mountain may have no space for two tigers, says the old Chinese
proverb, but the privately-run Tagou boasts over ten thousand! The courtyard is
at any given moment a killer-bee swarm of students of all ages deftly
demonstrating the fluid movement of forms, gravity-defying aerial assaults, an
arsenal of weapons techniques and the brute force of striking and
grappling.

As it does not seem likely that the People's Republic will
have future need to employ martial monks to defend the country from Wokou
raiders as it did in the old days, Kung Fu students of the new millennium will
eventually end up common businessmen (with a hell of a roundhouse), some will
become police officers, and the bottom percentile relegated to
rent-a-cop.

But in all their fearless eyes is that youthfully high hope;
the desire to become the next Jet Li, China's "national treasure" who attended a
Kung Fu training school from age 8 and went on to become a five-time Wushu
champion and silver screen sensation.

But is real life at a Kung Fu
school as glamorous as its on-screen personification?

-WUDANG
CLAN-

A few kilometers away from Shaolin Si against the placid
waters of Song Shan reservoir, the 11 year-old Shuiku Martial Arts School, with
only 200 students, may be dwarfed in both size and reputation by its estimable
red-suited rival, but the daily drill is virtually the same.

Whilst the
rest of the working world operates on a 9-5 schedule, life at Shaolin Shuiku is
literally backwards, from 5am to 9pm. In the blue light of dawn, barking
instructors rouse their respective teams for a run in the brisk morning mountain
air as Chinese patriot songs echo into the surrounding mountain
range.

Stretching, sprinting, fist pushups and other exertive exercises
to forge their young bodies into steel take place beneath the rising sun, the
packed-earth schoolyard a veritable army of green-uniformed students lined up in
formation. A quick cafeteria breakfast is followed by two hours of requisite
textbook classes including Chinese, Math and perfunctory English.

Before
lunch and then into the evening is the fun stuff - basics, forms, applications
and weapons - components of the external (Shaolin) and Wudang, or internal,
styles of Kung Fu training. Most can be rudimentarily learned in a matter of
years, but take a lifetime to perfect.

Forms, which are actual fighting
techniques with the appearance of a choreographed dance, are the most elegant.
The animal styles, for example, involve strength, speed and psychology; the
Tiger for external force and a strong attack, the softer Crane style for
patience and concentration, and so on down the animal kingdom.

For the
less graceful student, competitive Sanda sparring more resembles street fighting
than poise, whereby the biggest and bravest don protective gear and launch into
each other with fists of fury under the corrective eye of their
shifu.

Led not by a wizened Master Po, a cruel Pei Mei or any such
mythical elder with long white eyebrows, today's Shaolin shifu (master) are
young, burly and surly, some fresh out of Kung Fu school and quick to take a
bamboo cane to the backsides of their junior trainees.

-YOUNG
GRASSHOPPA-

In the dark chill of night, the spent students
finally retire to their dorm rooms for a semi-normal albeit brief adolescent
life - reading comics, watching movies, or, most precious, sleep. The boys share
up to ten bunks per room, which look, and smell, accordingly.

Conversely,
there are only 7 girls at Shuiku, though none admit feeling uncomfortable around
the pubescent testosterone of so many "brothers." With narrow eyes and long,
silky black hair, Feng Jing Jing of Shanxi has been a Shaolin student for one
year and plans at least another four.

Despite her quiet demeanor, the 17
year-old novice shares a tempered conceit with the rest of her male and female
classmates, disdaining an ordinary teenage life of classrooms and tests. "Kung
Fu is much easier than English," Feng Jing Jing asserts while slashing a
broadsword in the air with lethal precision.

And what of the parents who
are paying for these classes? For them, Kung Fu is an alternative investment
into their child's future. And the earlier they begin, the larger the payoff -
they hope.

Cao Xu, 7, who likes doing cartwheels instead of walking,
doesn't seem to mind being away from his mother and father back in Shanghai.
Nevertheless, their adult ambitions have obviously been instilled in this little
grasshopper's mind: "I want to be a hero...and earn lots of
money!"

-WHITE LOTUS-

Demonstrated by its
box-office strength in the western world, the Shaolin lifestyle isn't only
popular with Chinese. 20 year-old Felix Klemisch studied martial arts in his
native Germany for four years before hopping on a China-bound plane to pursue
his affinity for Kung Fu.

And towering over every other student and
trainer at Shuiku is the 190cm Stephan Beck, the school's foreign veteran with a
combined 9 months between two Shaolin schools (he quit the first school after
making him stare into the sun for ten minutes a day "to build up [his] Qi").
Also 20 and from Germany, Stephan defies height, gravity and conventions, often
training alone while the Chinese students are in group formation.

The two
young Europeans confide that communication is a bigger obstacle than the
physical ones, and were practically forced to learn rudimentary Chinese to
understand their trainers. "We had no choice," says blonde Felix in heavily
accented English. "It was either grasp basic Mandarin or get left
behind."

Neither is sure of what they want to do when they go home and
admit the possibility of drifting their way back to Shaolin. In the meantime,
shaved-headed Stephan is looking forward to getting away from Song Shan for an
upcoming respite in Beijing.

So which will he do first, a climb on the
Great Wall? Shopping at Silk Market? "Find a Chinese girlfriend," he decrees
with Shaolin bombast. "I've been on top of this mountain too
long!"

###

Tom Carter
of San Francisco is an internationally published freelance
photographer and travel writer specializing in the People's Republic of China.
Tom has traveled extensively throughout all 33 Chinese provinces and autonomous
regions and currently resides in Beijing.

This article originally
appeared in an April 2007 edition of Escape
magazine.

Shuttle busses to Shaolin Si depart
hourly from Zhengzhou City in Henan, 2 hours, 10RMB. You might have to change
busses in Dengfeng City depending on the route. Entrance tickets into the temple
cost 40 RMB, including a half-hour Kung Fu stage performance.

There are
over 100 privately run Kung Fu schools of varying standards and prices in the
county. Tuition at Shuiku Martial Arts School, including training, room and
board, costs 2000RMB per year for Chinese nationals or 2000RMB per month for
foreigners. www.slkf.net,
shaolinlhl@163.com,
0371-6287-8171
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512200/tpod.html Sun, 19 Aug 2007 04:31:14 -0400 Tom Carter | Photojournalist Specializing in China

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Dongying, China

Teach English In China
by Tom Carter

Having little luck finding an attractive job offer in the U.S. in 2004, I
decided to take my skills where they were wanted -- abroad.

Enticed by
the "Teach English in China -- No Experience Necessary" ads saturating the
online classifieds, I emailed my resume with one hand and packed my bags with
the other. I had no idea what to expect, but then, the great unknown can be what
makes a job like teaching English in the People's Republic so
appealing.

As the world's largest economy opens to foreign investment,
education has become one of China's thriving sectors. Confucius probably
wouldn't stand for it, but he wasn't wearing pinstripe suits and driving a shiny
black sedan. The country may be Communist in theory, but the renminbi -- Chinese
currency -- is emperor.

A Chinese adage says that the best advice is
often born from the most challenging experiences. After three years helping the
sons and daughters of Han learn English, I've had my share. Westerners looking
to teach in China may want to consider the following before packing their
bags.

Some foreign English teachers may be shanghaied at least once
during their time in China. Baiting unsuspecting Westerners to China with false
promises of a high salary, deluxe apartment, airfare reimbursement, visa or
other incentives is a common online scam. Blame it on temptation. Often Chinese
laws are too fluid and relationships ("guanxi" in Mandarin) with authorities too
intimate, leaving some foreigners with little protection against
scams.

The moment I arrived in the Middle Kingdom I had what some
seasoned expatriates call "the complete Chinese experience." The "school" that
had accepted my application turned out to be a nickel-and-dime operation run out
of an apartment by a guy in his bathrobe. I'd come half way around the world for
a job and found myself out of work.

I was literally lost in translation.
Despair and a desire to return home to Mom set in. But I quickly learned that,
commensurate with its sizeable population, China has a profusion of
kindergarten, primary, middle and high schools and universities in even the most
remote cities. In short order, I wound up with a position and salary more
attractive than the one I had originally accepted.

Chinese parents may
work night and day to pay for pricey English lessons so that their child can get
a head start in this competitive society of 1.3 billion. Unfortunately,
academics are not an issue to many of China's new educational entrepreneurs who
put profit before curriculum and quality. Classroom experience and Teaching
English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) certification is nice, but in many cases a
Western face is all a native English speaker needs to land a teaching job in
China.

In more reputable schools, most prospective English teachers don't
have it so easy. I endured a weeklong interview process, including a series of
teaching demonstrations before 300 stern-looking parents, all while I was still
jetlagged and suffering from culture shock. I must have done something right,
because I was chosen to teach at a top school in the province.

Being
rice-wined and dined by my prospective employer over 30-course banquet dinners
did not distract me from negotiating a fair salary. Many foreigners ("laowai")
prefer to live in a cosmopolitan city like Beijing or Shanghai than a small town
such as the one I had chosen, and I was able to use this preference as leverage
during contract discussions. All deals in China, like the price of fruit at the
marketplace, can be negotiated.

Most English teachers in China needn't
speak Mandarin in the classroom. Instead, we instruct students through a process
of language immersion and simulation, which in time invariably leads to
proficiency. Diligence and a little creativity are all that are really needed,
but like performing on stage five times a day, it takes its toll.

Over
the next few years, I would meet a number of disappointed young Westerners who
came overseas as English teachers expecting to party all night and spend their
free time pursuing adventures in the countryside. That, I would tell them, is a
lifestyle for tourists, exchange students and embassy brats, not the hardworking
teacher.

As a foreign expert English instructor, I'm scheduled for up to
30 classes a week and spend most of my free time planning lessons. I'm up at
dawn with the older folks practicing their Tai Chi and not back home until after
10 p.m., about when the migrant construction workers also are getting off
work.

I never thought I'd be an educator. I didn't like most of my
teachers when I was a kid. Teachers the world over are typically low paid,
overworked and underappreciated. But the fatigue and the hit on my income --
compared to what I might earn in the U.S. -- are what I pay for being part of a
rapidly-changing China. As it turned out, I'm not so bad in front of the
chalkboard -- I actually like it.

-- Mr. Carter is a business English
trainer in Beijing.

###

Tom Carter
of San Francisco is an internationally published freelance
photographer and travel writer specializing in the People's Republic of China.
Tom has traveled extensively throughout all 33 Chinese provinces and autonomous
regions and currently resides in Beijing.

This article originally
appeared in a February 2007 edition of The Wall Street Journal Career Journal.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512140/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512140/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/tomcarter/china/1187512140/tpod.html Sun, 19 Aug 2007 04:30:06 -0400 Tom Carter | Photojournalist Specializing in China

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Beijing, China

The Great Firewall of China
by Tom Carter

In late December of last year, a 7.1 earthquake off the coast of Taiwan severely
damaged Asia's undersea fiber-optic cables, disrupting telecommunication
circuits across the continent.

China and Southeast Asia saw their
communications capacity fall to between 2 and 10 percent, and though a portion
of service has since been rerouted to alternative fixed lines and suicidally
slow satellite transmissions, the P.R.C. has yet to fully recover from the
technological aftershocks, what Mainlanders are now referring to as the "World
Wide Wait.

Repair status is conflicting, with Chinese telecom officials
publicly alternating between evasive ("the work is slow because of complicated
conditions"), blameful ("the repairs are done by other companies we
commissioned") and unrealistically optimistic ("a few more days"), as quoted in
the state-run media.

International news sources cite a more likely and
longer completion date of early-March for a return to full capacity, perhaps due
to what global news service AFP disturbingly reports as China "relying on 19th
century technology to fix a 21st century problem.

In an effort to
downplay the crisis, China precipitately announced that it expects to become the
world's largest Internet user, overtaking the United States with an estimated
137 million users. That's quite a bullish forecast for a country that has
suffered nationwide telecommunications outages since the new year.

In
fact, internet blackouts are nothing new to foreigners residing in the People's
Republic, who are accustomed to limited access to overseas sites that have been
blocked by the central government's web monitoring entity, commonly referred to
as The Great Firewall of China.

But the newest online paralysis resulting
from the recent natural and technological calamity has most certainly affected
international businesses in Mainland China, many whom rely on consistent online
communications and B2B transactions to stay above international water. Even
multinational conglomerates Google, Microsoft and Yahoo, who are already
struggling in the Asian market, are now regularly met with "cannot display"
time-out errors.

Conversely, China's e-commerce giants just don't
understand what all the fuss is about. China News Service reports that amidst
the first several weeks of Internet outages, Chinese-based ISPs boasted a 99
percent uptime as the country's largest web corporations including Sina, Baidu,
Alibaba, Tom and Tencent saw their site traffic, and earnings,
multiply.

But for China's Internet-deprived expat community from Beijing
to the Bund, hope is literally on the Verizon. A consortium of international
telecom providers including China Telecom, CNC and U.S. carrier Verizon have
jointly invested $500 million in the construction of a new Trans-Pacific Express
(TPE) Cable Network connecting Mainland China directly with the United
States.

The next-generation submarine optical cable system, expected to
be completed in 2008, will span the Asia-Pacific at 60 times the present
capacity, rendering obsolete the damaged FNAL cables beneath the Taiwan
Strait.

Indubitably, China's easily-crippled telecommunications
infrastructure and the prolonged aftermath can be blamed on poor foresight and
co-dependent technology and is both a devastating episode for foreign companies
in China and a chin check for a nation striving to compete as a 21st century
world player.

But if the completion of a bigger and better trans-Pacific
cable network has anything to do with the cause for the delay, then foreign and
Chinese companies alike will just have to wait that much longer to resume to
normal operating speeds.

###

Tom Carter of San Francisco is an
internationally published freelance photographer and travel writer
specializing in the People's Republic of China. Tom has traveled extensively
throughout all 33 Chinese provinces and autonomous regions and currently resides
in Beijing.

This article originally appeared on NowPublic.Com
]]>