My Photo scholarship 2010 entry - Beijing reloaded
China | Monday, September 27, 2010 | 5 photos
My first trip to China dates back to 1991. I loved it at first sight - the splendor of palaces in Guangzhou (still Canton), the atmosphere in Hong-Kong, colors, people and their lives so different from mine, all those centuries of history and art I knew nothing about. So much to discover.
I remember stepping out of the train, staring at an outside parking as big as two football stadiums and all covered in black bicycles, asking myself, how can anyone find theirs if they look all the same?
I came back in 2007, to Beijing this time. China had changed a lot. To me it was even more beautiful, the almost tangible stretch to technology and innovation, everything transforming so fast - and at the same time so deeply rooted.
Went back to Beijing one year after, couldn't find anymore places that existed just few months before. In a much debated neighborhoods upgrading, Hutongs were being destroyed to make room for new houses. There were residents' protests, and eventually the project halted. But the fact that someone could even think about, lest plan, such an operation tells a lot about the nature of this new, "modern" China: new is good, old is not interesting, preserving a waste of time.
These snapshots portray a Beijing that can be so new and so old at the same time, in so many ways: where architects play with shapes and buildings are erected in record time with the most old-fashioned tools, acrobats monks perform in front of posh westerners conventions, and artists experiment all. While old men in the park fly their hikes as they've been doing for ages.
Why choosing me? Because I love learning. I'm an all-curios traveler. A willing-photographer. And a fun person too :)
