"THESE LITTLE PIGGIES WENT TO MARKET": THE CHINA PORK MARKET THEN & NOW

THE CHINA 

PORK MARKET 

THEN & NOW 

MADE IN THE SHADE 

PIGS TO MARKET, YAN'AN, CHINA, 1981 

Thirty years later:   The government of China is seeking to push up the production of pork to meet rising demand and push down rising prices (up almost sixty percent in one year for China's most popular meat).   Pig farming is to be subsidized; farmers are to increase the supply of live pigs!  

More pork here and here. 

CHINESE MEAT MARKET THEN (YAN'AN 1981) II; THE FOOD MARKET NOW

MARKETING FOOD 

IN CHINA 

Then & Now 

MEAT FOR SALE IN THE 

MARKET IN YAN'AN, CHINA, 

IN 1981 

(Second of two photographs; 

the first, close up, here) 

A Washington Post article about changes in the Chinese diet "Reshaping World Markets" (though most of the current specifics concern the U.S. soybean market) can be found here. 

Included is the story of Liu Shuwen, who went "from street chicken vendor to poultry industrialist."  He is said to have grown up "incubating chicks under his bed," and to have left "the countryside" (unspecified) to come to Beijing thirty years ago, about the time of the photograph above. 

CHINESE MEAT MARKET THEN (YAN'AN 1981) & THE QUESTION OF FOOD SAFETY NOW

FOOD & 

FOOD SAFETY 

IN 

CHINA 

Then & Now 

MEAT FOR SALE IN THE 

MARKET IN YAN'AN, CHINA, 

IN 1981 

(First of two photographs; 

the second here (May 23) 

Advice on shopping for food in today's China, from CNN: 

"With so many food safety scandals in China, everyone seems to have a philosophy on how best to eat. Avoid seafood. Never eat meat from the local market. Don't eat Chinese branded dairy products including cakes."  (More here.) 

CHINA WARES: CHINA THEN & NOW

CHINA WARES

ON OFFER IN THE YAN'AN

FREE MARKET, 1981

With all the hype about China Rising, a look back at what the free market meant in the early days of reform, in one old revolutionary base, Yan'an, in 1981.

One in a series

CHINA THEN & NOW

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY II: YAN'AN, CHINA

YAN'AN WELCOME 

WITH SHY BOY 

YAN'AN, CHINA, 1981 

The small boy hides behind the man's left side (being prevented from flight by having his wrist firmly grasped).  The grown-ups (with perhaps one exception) seem to enjoy the sight of the "very tall" photographer visiting Yan'an, the "cradle of the Chinese revolution," in 1981. 

STREET PHOTOGRAPHY 

ON FARAWAY STREETS

"HERE BE GIANTS"