Huaihua - west - main street - BaoZi (Chinese Steamed Buns)
vendor - there are two types of steamed bread in China:
Northern-style and Southern-style. They are made from a
leavened dough based on wheat flour. Northern-style steamed
bread is produced according to a recipe containing only flour,
water and yeast, whereas Southern-style steamed bread contains
many other ingredients depending on the region where it is produced.
Traditionally, steamed bread has been prepared at home, but more
and more is now being made in factories or sold like here on the
street by vendors
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - West - marjong - club - with Mao
smiling perpetually down upon the players
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - western campus - "bean drying"
photo/digital manipulation. mhobbs

Huaihua - "Number 2 railway school" - middle school
entrance - the tiled sign suggests to the students to -
"work hard and study more"
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - Yingfeng East Road (central) - chicken washing
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - East - Yingfeng East Road -
drain repair - husband and wife "team"
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - East - Yingfeng East Road - truck repair -
on the "sidewalk" Late afternoon five men repair a truck
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - western campus - Lah - mien restaurant
owner - (Muslim wheat noodles restaurant) -
The Chinese have been feasting on noodles for at
least 5,000 years, since the Han dynasty. In fact, Italians
got their first taste of pasta when Marco Polo returned home
from his long trek across China with a host of exotic food items,
including noodles. The Lah-mien noodles are wheat noodles -
(Originallly from the north-west of China) In China, making
"hand-pulled" whaet noodles noodles is an art involving
holding the stretched out paste in both hands and whirling
it around several times. Then the paste is laid out on a board
and folded and refolded repeatedly. (the same as kneading bread)
Eventually the paste is transformed into long, thin, noodles.
In Huaihua it is still possible to watch vendors make
hand-pulled noodles. This man and his extended family have
travelled far from somewhere near the boarder of China
and Kazakhstan to recently open this restaurant.
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - East Yingfeng East Road -
woman listening to radio - late afternoon
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - East Yingfeng East Road - "stall holder"
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - East Yingfeng East Road - Yang family traditional
steamed "pot rice". The rice is cooked as normal in water
then drained and placed with assorted vegtables in the
"clay-pots" and cooked "dry" over hot coals for several minutes.
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - East Yingfeng East Road - Yang family traditional
steamed "pot rice" restaurant - preparing the seaweed soup
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - East Yingfeng East Road - Yang family traditional
steamed "pot rice" restaurant
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua University - eastern campus - "umbrella-girls"
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - western campus - view from
the dinning hall
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - walking to Yingfeng Park - "Mid Autumn Festival"
or "Moon Cake Festival" - a time for Chinese families to
come together - Mid-Autumn Festival is a festival to
celebrate the harvest for the year. After a full year of
hard labor, the farmers celebrate after the harvest
is done. Celebrated annually on the first full moon
of the 9th month
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - East Yingfeng East Road - "farmer"
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - central - afternoon street
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - central - cell phone user
- man squatting in shade - "thumbs" his phone
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - central - construction site - concrete pouring -
During 2004 China used (imported most) - over one quarter
of all the worlds concrete - this alone create's some of
the worlds highest readings of greenhouse gas emissions
and raises the ground and air temperature throughout the
ever expanding eastern Chinese cities and megapolises' -
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - east - Yingfeng East Road - Night market
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - eastern campus - polished marble stairs -
"new" english building
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - eastern campus - tower - silver polished metal
edifice on the roof of the "new" english building
- shines in the morning sun
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - western campus - Annual freshman concert - dancers -
shimmering in the bright stage lights - the costumes of the
dancers (second and third year students) create a dreamlike scene
photo/digital manipulation. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - western campus - cafeteria - after the
lunchtime rush - one of the many "cooks" takes a nap
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - view of iron and "clay" roofs -
a flat rectangular piece of clay is formed to the desired shape
and size, (flat and long) it is placed on a wooden mold which has
been covered with a moistened cloth. the clay is placed on
a mold, it is then tamped into shape. The mold is then mounted
on a wheel, so that the clay can be smoothed quickly to a
uniform shape and size. (cylindrical) The wooden frame is taken
out, and the cylinders of clay are left to air dry.
After the clay has dried, it is broken into four segments.
These are then fired in a kiln. This same method has been
used throughout China since the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 AD)
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - eastern campus - "windows"
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - eastern campus
- caretakers home on foggy morning
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - western campus - Gate
- "welcome balloons" and banners for the new first year students
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - western campus - thermos stall - at the
begining of each school year - thermos - wash basins -
coat hangers - bowls - lunch "cans" and plastic drinking-cups
are sold (at a profit to the University) to the new students
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - eastern campus - girls walking to class
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - east - Yingfeng East Road - woman on bike
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - east - Yingfeng East Road - riders - bright
mid-afternoon
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - sidewalk - paper recycling
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - sidewalk - wok washing
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - on the outskirts of town - construction - cranes and
building sites litter the landscape - hordings proclaiming a
new standard in luxury - distract the eye - luxury apartments
and business park developments - are just part of the
endless development overtaking both the rural and
urban neighborhoods - This type of development posses
many questions about affluence and "for whom are they
building these for?"
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - Yingfeng East Road - pulling a cart loaded with
refuse from one of the many restaurant that line Huaihua's
main street
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - eastern campus - English major student
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - western campus - early morning -
teacher walks to catch the bus to the eastern campus -
a ten minute jouney
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - central market - woman preparring coals to
"dry-roast" chestnut's
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - eastern campus - english building -
security guard
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua University - western campus - bike
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - eastern campus - English major
student - with class sizes close to fifty and almost
three in four students not obtaining a place at any University
within China - this young woman - a second year
English major - is one of the "lucky" ones
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - University - eastern campus - windows of the "new"
teaching building
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - central - small "back street" - motor bike men
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - eastern campus - stool "stack" - students piled their stools
in this chaotic fashion - at the entrance forecourt of the new
english building - waiting for a "Chinese" english teacher
photo. mhobbs

Huaihua - eastern campus - new english building "tower"
photo. mhobbs