XI MAO: XI JINPING, MAO ZEDONG

CHINESE LEADERSHIP 

 NOW & THEN 

GENERAL SECRETARY XI JINPING (l) 

CHAIRMAN MAO ZEDONG (r) 

Interesting juxtaposition? 

VISUAL POLITICS? 

A photographic example here, with analysis 

SHANGHAI & CHINESE URBAN REALITIES

CHINA THEN & NOW

KITCHEN IN A SHANGHAI

WORKERS' COMPLEX, 1981

Reporting by James T. Areddy in the Wall Street Journal today: "Despite China's explosion of new housing over the past decade, an estimated one third of China's 225 million urban households are without kitchens and plumbing, says Rosealea Yao of GK Dragonomics Research." One third of China's URBAN households. The story is here; the accompanying slide show is here.

WHAT IS IN THE CARDS? ALMOST THE NEW YEAR

WHAT DO

THE CARDS

HOLD?

TEMPLE OF HEAVEN

BEIJING, OCTOBER 1992

After the 14th Party Congress

Next year, same time: the 18th

Scheduled: Leadership changes

SUNSET ON THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER YAN: CHINA THEN

CROSSING THE BRIDGE

ON THE RIVER YAN

AT SUNSET

YAN'AN, CHINA, 1981

WHAT THE CHINESE MAN IN THE STREET IS READING: MORE ON THE TRAIN WRECK

THE CHINESE 

TRAIN WRECK 

II 

WHAT 

THE MAN IN THE STREET 

WAS 

READING 

1981 

And now:  In five days, according to the reporting in the New York Times, twenty-six million messages about the Wenzhou train wreck had been posted on the two main Chinese weibos, or microblogs. 

One in a Series: China Then & Now 

{work in progress} 

"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. 

TRAIN TIME #5: CHINA THEN AGAIN

TRAIN TIME 

#5 

BEIJING RAILWAY STATION 1981 

#2 

 

The first photograph of the station is here 

BACK TO THE TRAINS AGAIN: THE BEIJING RAILWAY STATION THEN

CHINA 

THEN & NOW: 

THE TRAINS 

AGAIN 

BEIJING RAILWAY STATION 1981 

"FOOD IS THE PEOPLE'S GOD": CHINA THEN AND NOW

MORE 

FOOD SAFETY  

FEARS 

IN CHINA 

MOTHER & DAUGHTER & CHOPSTICKS 

XI'AN, CHINA, 1981 

Barbara Demick has a powerful article in the Los Angeles Times about food safety scares in China today, with this quote from one  Xiao Andong: "We have a saying in China that 'food is the people's god,' so obviously it is very scary for ordinary people when things like this happen" (for details, see here). 

Above, a photograph of the pleasure of eating thirty years ago, at the start of "Reform & Opening Up"; here and here, two samples of one free market in food at the same time (Eat Fresh!  Eat Local). 

one in a series on 

CHINA THEN & NOW 

TRACKING THE CHINESE TRAINS OF THIRTY YEARS AGO

TRACKING 

THE CHINESE 

TRAINS OF 

THIRTY YEARS AGO 

BOY WAITING BY THE TRACKS 

CHINA, 1981 

One in a series 

CHINA THEN & NOW 

More on the railroads here 

& 

here 

HITCHING A RIDE? ONE OF THE CREW? MORE CHINESE RAILROADING OF THIRTY YEARS AGO

AT THE  

STATION 

HITCHING A RIDE?  ONE OF THE CREW? 

PACKAGE TRANSPORT AND PEOPLE 

ON THE PLATFORM 

RAILROADING 1981 

One of a series on 

CHINA THEN & NOW 

SING A SONG OF CHINESE RAILROADS: AND WHAT THEY LOOKED LIKE BACK THEN

A PAEAN TO 

CHINESE RAILROADS 

(HIGH-SPEED, COMING) 

AND WHAT SOME OF THEM 

LOOKED LIKE THIRTY YEARS AGO 

(A Chinese Train Photographed 

from a Moving Chinese Train) 

Keith Bradsher's NYT hymn to China'a "steadily expanding high-speed rail network" and the bullet-train bonanza he sees coming can be found here. 

CHINA AS A SEA POWER: AND THIRTY YEARS AGO III

CHINA 

AS A 

SEA POWER 

III 

SHANGHAI, 1981 

1st in series, here 

2nd, with discussion, here 

"HERE BE GIANTS" 

CHINA AS A SEA POWER: AND THIRTY YEARS AGO

CHINA 

AS A 

SEA POWER 

SHANGHAI, 1981 

Thirty years later China appears to be bent on becoming a significant maritime power and not to be shy about letting its ambitions be known. The PLA (People's Liberation Army) Navy is rapidly modernizing and conducting exercises that certainly have gotten its neighbors' notice  (some have said that the South China Sea should be re-named lest China takes the name too seriously as several countries in the area compete for its suspected natural resources). 

A related Shanghai photograph from 1981 here 

Recent photographs of a Chinese navy destroyer and a submarine rescue ship, courtesy of the Japanese Defense Ministry, here 

More details, from the BBC, concerning China and the "maritime arms race," here 

"HERE BE GIANTS" 

SHANGHAI SHIPPING, THIRTY YEARS AGO: CHINA THEN & NOW

SHANGHAI 

SHIPPING 

1981 

For a discussion of China as a rising maritime power, see here  

THREE GUYS HANGING OUT, CANTON (GUANGZHOU), CHINA, 1981

THREE GUYS 

HANGING OUT 

CANTON (GUANGZHOU), CHINA, 1981 

More CANTON here 

One of a series on 

CHINA THEN & NOW 

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.) 

BEIJING TO "BAN" SMOKING

BEIJING

TO "BAN"

SMOKING

MAN & PIPE

XI'AN, CHINA, 1981

China Then & Now

One of a series

WEST LAKE INTERLUDE (HANGZHOU, CHINA)

INTERLUDE

HANGZHOU, CHINA

WEST LAKE, 1981

RESPITE FROM

THE "GARISH DAY"

For a misty early morning photograph of West Lake, 1981, and a note on a brief but interesting encounter, see the posting here.

CHINA THEN & NOW

One of a series