In China

I can honestly say that I love China, and I always will. It is an absolutely beautiful country. 

There has been a lot of stuff that has been written about China, the government, it's history. A lot of it is true. And, a lot of it is not true. However, to me a lot of this is not so important. 

The country in itself has some of the most stunning landscapes that I have ever seen. It has some of the best cities, and some of the worst. 

Yet, for me, what was the most important was the fact that the Chinese people are absolutely lovely people. They are warm and friendly. I have made many, many friends in the country, and the almost five years that I lived there were some of the best that I have experienced. I found myself, as a leader and, as a person. 

One of the things that I will always be grateful to China for, is that I re-discovered photography here. It will always be a great tragedy of my life that my external hard drive crashed, and with it I lost two years worth of pictures that I took in the country. Pictures in Beijing, JiuZhaiGou, Zhang Jia Jie, Shanghai, Nei Menggu, all gone. This is one of the curses of digital photography, I think.

I hope that I get the chance to travel again in China, to photograph the country, and to carry on my friendship with the people of the country. Maybe, I shall. 

I resumed photography in LiJiang, a stunningly beautiful town in Yunnan province. The new town, pictured above, is faceless like many new towns. Square and without character. The old town, now that is something else altogether. 

When I left China, I was given a plaque. A map of the country, with soil collected from several parts of the country,inside the map. It was a beautiful gesture. 

Since I intend to keep this memento with me, I guess I will always have a little bit of China with me for the rest of my days!

Comments

[Susanne]

I just read your China blog......interesting andunbelievable, in a way.....