Comments on: Humanizing China - a Photo Gallery

Humanizing China - a Photo Gallery

jonson — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:34:34 -0800

The excellent Chinablog EastSouthWestNorth has a series of photos entitled "Humanizing China." The photos are grouped in three categories: Survival, Relationships & Desires and all three sections are highly worth checking out. Via.

By: serazin

serazin — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:47:11 -0800

Cool photos. I'll be checking these out in detail. It's odd to me though that the series is called "humanizing China". So many of the photos are large crowd shots that emphasize a homogonous group. Even the 'relationship' series isn't super humanizing. People are shot from a distance, often from the back or side, with little focus on expressions and individual character. Overall the series seems to treat the subjects not as individuals, but as a mass.

By: spicynuts

spicynuts — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:48:03 -0800

I don't think the "acupuncture for weight loss" is working.

By: ewkpates

ewkpates — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:49:40 -0800

wow.

By: amyms

amyms — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:52:49 -0800

This is great, thanks!... I especially like the black-and-white photography.

By: Dizzy

Dizzy — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:09:42 -0800

Nice find, jonson-- fascinating.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:16:56 -0800

Very nice!

By: eurasian

eurasian — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:49:13 -0800

Great post.

By: Keith Talent

Keith Talent — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:00:43 -0800

Fantastic. Thank you. Only desires is not working for me.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:04:47 -0800

The ones in the Relationships list are amazing. Thanks a lot.

By: OmieWise

OmieWise — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 11:52:22 -0800

The other two lists are just as good.

By: clockzero

clockzero — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 12:20:04 -0800

This is fascinating.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 12:49:45 -0800

My favorite is #53 in the Survival link of the peasant man carrying his wife home. That is love if ever I've seen it.

By: Joey Michaels

Joey Michaels — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 12:50:17 -0800

Sorry - #52.

By: C.Batt

C.Batt — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:08:22 -0800

Very neat. I'd just like to add that for me, the most humanizing thing (re: China) has been my recent hire of 2 Chinese immigrants. Combined, they've been living in Canada for less than 2 years and our discussions about where they are from, and their Canadian experience to date, have been extremely educational.

By: jonson

jonson — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 13:39:10 -0800

For myself, I can't help but ascribe anthropomorphic, almost "human" rationale when I try to understand the motivations of my Chinese Pugs Oscar & Lola.

By: ryanfou

ryanfou — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 20:24:23 -0800

I disagree serazin, those group photos suggests to me the struggle to survive in such a mass, how could I survive in a crowd like that... the photographs in general are great at showing people in their environment. I don't know what more you would expect. If you got too close, I think it would be quite presumptuous. this is just a guess, and not meant to be an insult, but perhaps you just can't see the individuality, not so much a fault of the photographer.

By: Falconetti

Falconetti — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 22:05:28 -0800

Very nice, thank you. I also don't see these photos as treating the Chinese as an undifferentiated mass, besides a few photos. Most seemed very personal and intimate to me.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 16:01:20 -0800

Just discovered this post. wow jonson, great photographs. Movingly human.