immigrant workers demolish a row of stores in the northern part of the city.
This extraordinary scene where men and women alike work with nothing more than their bare hands and primitive tools to demolish brick and concrete buildings, is not unusual in China. In my experience in many provinces and cities in China it is always the same.
My family and I were out walking close to these buildings (We had been out for a couple of hours, buying fruit and playing with our daughter). I as usual had my camera with me and saw these "workers", toiling in the debris.
I stopped to chat with them, and was struck by the extraordinary labour that they were doing. I had a bag of bananas with me. One of the men gestured and asked if they could have a banana, so of course I handed out the fruit. My partner suggested to me that I buy them something more, so after some discussion I went to buy some steamed buns and a large bottle of water.
It is unusual I know, that I comment in such a way on my images but in this case the actual background to the shot conveys perhaps more meaning than the image itself. It is often commented by myself and others the changes that are a part of everyday life in China, but do we (the viewer/outsiders) stop to think of who and how these changes occur.
China is a country of many minorities these men are from the far north west of the country, they are unable to find "better" work in Shanxi and are employed in situations that the majority of the population does not or will not do. In many ways this type of "racial" persecution is "developing " China, but until all minorities are treated equally in 'The Middle Kingdom', development will stagnate and be wholly superficial.
photo: mhobbs
Sunday, June 21, 2009
when the sun is high and the dust is on your skin
Saturday, June 13, 2009
harmonizing - black with some red
dried mushrooms and chili at a small stall at the 'northern market'. Taiyuan, Shanxi Provence. China
photo: mhobbs
when memory is your friend # 2 - steps
a young woman walks to her apartment, in an area that has apparently been neglected by the local government. Taiyuan, Shanxi Provence. China
photo: mhobbs
Monday, May 11, 2009
weep
an old woman covers her eyes whilst weeping, sitting on the side of the road in the north of the city
photo: Mhobbs
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
he closes his eyes to what's coming
middle aged man rests at a busy intersection in the north of the city
photo:m.hobbs
Saturday, April 11, 2009
party store
a small wholesale catering supply store in the center of the city - click on the image to visit me on flick
photo: mhobbs
Friday, February 20, 2009
the break
a group of men playing cards in a narrow "nong tang" (alley) in the north of the city
photo:mhobbs
Sunday, February 15, 2009
it was snowing
a woman struggles against the heavy snow and wind, pushing her bicycle into the shelter of the central bus station near the center of the city
photo:mhobbs
Saturday, January 17, 2009
scarf
an old man guards against the biting winter cold, on his way to the small 'northern' market
photo: mhobbs
Sunday, December 21, 2008
emporers chicken
A young market vendor sits by his slow "clay baked chicken's", sometimes called Beggar's Chicken, at a small 'open air' market in the north of the city. The chicken is wrapped in huge lotus leaves, packed in cool, wet claylike mud or ceramic clay and then baked for hours in a low oven. When the dish is ready and the hard clay cracked open, the chicken, so tender it falls away from the bone, releases a steamy fragrance that is truly memorable.
It is doubly appealing because it is steeped in the kind of folklore and legend that the Chinese love.
One story tells of the beggar who became the first Emperor of the Han dynasty (202 B.C. to A.D. 220). It holds that this clay-baked chicken dish, a favorite of the beggar, became an imperial specialty when he became Emperor.
photo: mhobbs
Friday, December 12, 2008
steam
A vendor steams buns (Bao Zi) in the open outside his small " store", in the Jiancaoping district near 'Taiyuan Institute of Technology'.
photo: mhobbs
Monday, February 25, 2008
having spent the day # 2 - cibachrome # 12
A man crosses a busy street in the Xiangqiao district in the center of the city
photo:mhobbs
Thursday, February 21, 2008
when your friend is behind you - square # 171
A man stands close to his "van" with a ceramics factory 'chimney stack' looming large against the early winter sky. The factory is built close to an apartment "block" complex
photo:mhobbs
Friday, February 08, 2008
lucy - in b&w # 2 - square # 170
And now for something completely different.
Our beautiful daughter Lucy @ two years and three months
photo:mhobbs
when expecting the rain
A woman holding a red and white umbrella, stands at the entrance to a "Hutong" (Traditional Chinese alley dwelling) in a narrow "nong tang" (alley) in the Qiaodong distict
photo:mhobbs
when all you have is a simple gesture
A family - small "street" market in the Qiaodong district.
This may be a very simple image but of all the "square bw" images that I have taken in the last two or three years this one is one of my favorites - It has all the elements that I have tried to capture of 'everyday life' of the 'common person' in China - MH
photo:mhobbs
portrait of a man in the afternoon
A motorbike "taxi" guy stands by his 'bike in the courtyard beside the northern gate to Hanshan University
photo:mhobbs