crowded

Yantai - south - Crowded apartment "dwellings" in the southern section of the city - The real income of the poorest 10% of China's 1.4 billion people fell by 2.4% in the two years to 2003, an analysis by World Bank economists has found. Meanwhile, average incomes for China's richest rose by more than 16%. The findings challenge the basis of government policies aimed at narrowing the country's politically sensitive wealth gap, which President Hu Jintao has made a centerpiece of his administration's economic policies. The Chinese have understated the extent of poverty by defining it as roughly US$83 in annual income, equal to about 5% of average per capita income. The U.S. definition of poverty is 12% of average per capita income. - afternoon
photo: mhobbs

yellow frame

Yantai - North - High above a "gated" - dead-end "nong tang" (alley) with an 'overhang' of brightly painted yellow framed windows at the far end, in the northern section of the city - afternoon
photo: mhobbs

close to the wall #2

Yantai - North - In a warehouse district on the northern edge of the city a "biketruck" guy rides his bike along a narrow "nong tang" (alley) - afternoon
photo: mhobbs

red shutters

Yantai - North - On the northern edge of the city an old "European" building circa 1910, with red shutters - afternoon
photo: mhobbs

to the right

Yantai - North - On the northern edge of the city a man walks by an old soon to be demolished "European" building, circa 1900 - afternoon
photo: mhobbs

sealed door

Yantai - North - On the northern edge of the city, in a concealed courtyard an old building's door is sealed, this is common in China. The owners of the building may be the government or the building may have been confiscated for various reasons by the government. This building is now deserted and empty. - morning
photo: mhobbs

burning

Yantai - East - A neon sign 'burns' atop of a hotel "night and day", on the eastern edge of the city - afternoon
photo: mhobbs

curios

Yantai - Central - Afternoon light falls onto a peeling painted sign on an old building housing an arcade of "Yantai Curio's" in the centre of the city - afternoon
Apologies to the "readers" this site being a "google" product has been blocked for the past month by the 'Central Government - It seems to be unblocked as of today -
photo: mhobbs

skyline

Yantai - East - On the far eastern edge of the city an apartment and shopping development rises against the 'flatlands' landscape - late afternoon
photo: mhobbs

man and bike

Yantai - A man with his bike in a small backstreet in the east of the city - afternoon
photo: mhobbs

shine

Yantai - The sun reflects off the tiles of a downtown apartment building in the west of the city - late afternoon
photo: mhobbs

face

Yantai - Old woman in a small backstreet on the eastern edge of the city, with new apartment buildings in the background - afternoon
photo: mhobbs

light explosion

Yantai - Lights of one of the many office buildings at "Shandong Institute of Business and Technology" - night
photo: mhobbs

peoples arch

Yantai - An old building with an arched entry in a small backstreet on the eastern edge of the city stands deserted and disused - afternoon
photo: mhobbs

windows - reflected

Yantai - Two windows are relected in a pool of water at "Shandong Institute of Business and Technology" with a pile of bricks and coal on the ground - afternoon
photo: mhobbs

'red'- sculpture

Yantai - A steel sculpture reaches sixty feet (eighteen meters) into the hot morning sky in a square at "Shandong University of Business and Technology", with one of the many 'teaching buildings in the background
photo: mhobbs