Vox’s posts tagged images

Sketches 1.4 released - includes eraser, email, text support, web server

nobody@vox.com(prMac) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:19:37 +0000

Sketches 1.4 released - includes eraser, email, text support, web server

http://prmac.vox.com/library/post/ske...

LateNiteSoft has just released version 1.4 of Sketches, its popular drawing app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Together with version 1.3, released two weeks ago, the updates provide significant improvements over the original 1.0 version. Notable new features over previous versions of Sketches...

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Sketches 1.4 released - includes eraser, email, text support, web server

nobody@vox.com(prMac) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:19:12 +0000

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Findley Designs releases iPod Access Photo 1.6 with Nano 4G support

nobody@vox.com(prMac) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:17:38 +0000

Findley Designs releases iPod Access Photo 1.6 with Nano 4G support

http://prmac.vox.com/library/post/fin...

Findley Designs, Inc. announces the immediate availability of iPod Access Photo 1.6 for Mac OSX and Windows Vista/XP. iPod Access Photo is the complete solution to viewing and retrieving photos stored on iPod players. New features in v1.6 include Support for Nano 4G, improved photo cropping,...

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Findley Designs releases iPod Access Photo 1.6 with Nano 4G support

nobody@vox.com(prMac) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 22:16:42 +0000

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Mudbug Software introduces Webify 1.0 for Mac OS X Leopard

nobody@vox.com(prMac) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 15:57:26 +0000

Mudbug Software introduces Webify 1.0 for Mac OS X Leopard

http://prmac.vox.com/library/post/mud...

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Mudbug Software introduces Webify 1.0 for Mac OS X Leopard

nobody@vox.com(prMac) — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 14:20:28 +0000

Mudbug Software is delighted to introduce Webify 1.0, their new image editing utility for Mac OS X Leopard. Serving as a easy-to-use image browser, Webify was specifically developed as a productivity tool to help prepare images for the web. Quickly and easily resize, scale, rotate and flip many images at once and save them in one of several web-friendly formats. Alter the Exposure, Gamma, Saturation, Brightness, Contrast, Sharpness, and Sepia of images in batch, or one at a time.

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A love hate relationship.

nobody@vox.com(maura_ea) — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:57:44 +0000

I love Yahoo - I've been with them since I began choosing a search engine and web-based email provider. I've never had too big of a beef with them and they're generally very intuitive when it comes to how their software works with others. However, the more and more I blog - and try to include images as demonstrations in my blogs - the more and more I get irritated with Yahoo image search.

I love Flickr, I really do, however I hate that when you find a good image on Flickr you likely can't use it. I respect photographers and I'm not going to print-screen someone who is obviously aware of how they want their work used. But when all Yahoo gives me is Flickr images I can't use - it's irritating. I don't want to have to clip & then edit clipped posts in order to get an image from the net.

I've resorted to using Google image search now because all I want is a quick shot of an orange or traffic moving on a freeway. Is that so hard to ask? I thought that Yahoo would allow you to exclude certain sites - but no matter how hard I try I can't seem to figure it out. Does anyone out there know the search syntax I should be using to exclude a site?

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ImageFramer 2.1 for Mac OS X Improves Photorealism

nobody@vox.com(prMac) — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 21:55:10 +0000

Apparent Software is proud to announce ImageFramer 2.1, their custom image framing utility for Mac OS X. With a focus on ease-of-use, ImageFramer can apply photo-realistic frames to digital images, drawings or any original artwork. Users can add frames, watermarks, batch process several images at a time, as well as colorize or adjust Hue, Saturation and Brightness of the frames for maximum flexibility. Version 2.1 adds improved photo-realism.

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Phillip Morris Media Practice Concept In Class Group Project

nobody@vox.com(The Beautiful Stranger) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:52:33 +0000

So I am taking this awesome Grad class at the New School University called Media Practices: Concepts and our first in class group assignment is to pretend we are the highly-paid media director for Philip Morris. I have paired up with a couple of very creative students and came up with this awesome idea....I really don't want to give away too much, but maybe you will get the idea when I post the pics below. The overall premise is to use our creativity to imagine what other ostensibly altruistic activities Philip Morris or its employees may be undertaking. Then choose one TV idea (and one print ad idea) and maek a rough sketch of it. Just take a look at the pics below, then tell me what you think

Can your neck do this? LOL

SO Psychodelic dudes! P-Funk Owwwwwwwwwwww!

May I have this first dance?

I've got to be the sexiest cartoon lady ever?

So what do you think so far? wait till you see what we've come up with! I can't wait!!!!!!

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Are You Ready to Ride On It? - [Scary]

nobody@vox.com(azulfi) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:15:47 +0000

Click here For the Details and More Fun .......

Just click on the above link and enjoy the scariest ride of your life....

ENJOY>>>>>>>>>>

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Are You Ready to Take a Ride on It? - [Scary]

nobody@vox.com(azulfi) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 05:02:44 +0000

CLICK HERE FOR THE DETAILS FOR THIS PICTURE

Just click on the above link and enjoy the best fun.....

Thanx......

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About Myself and my photos for stock photography

nobody@vox.com(lance71) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 12:09:31 +0000

My Name is Lance Muir, currently living in Johannesburg South Africa. I live on a small plot just out of town (great place to rest and relax)

I am a beginner to the stock photos side to photography but love the whole idea behind stock photos and strive to produce uvery useful imagery of lots of different subject matter and at great quality giving the customers or buyers a well worth the money photograph.

My portfolio has only been up for a short time mostly using my canon 350D with 8 mega pixels, gave me some great results but was lacking a bit of needed quality in my photography.

I have recently upgraded to the Canon 400D at 10.1 mega pixels now with much better quality for pictures in my opinion camparing to the 350D.

I have started off with plainly African or South African subject matter such as traditional musical instruments, golden brown bushveld for which Africa is well known. Now I plan to get more people into my portfolio from the few I currently have.

I do however have a great image (in my opinion) of a young little african boy playing a bongo drum (traditionally African musical instrument) with great facial expression. This one in particular is in a sepia tone which does the picture great justice. It was taken at a little village in South Africa, they have a show they put on for passing people. This boy is a great hit with these little shows.

Also have another shot of the same little boy drumming the bongo - just in case the buyer needs a color image for his oir her design.

I will continue adding images - I try and see what the stock photography websites are lacking (with regards to images) and try to provide them. It is difficult with the great photographers on the sites.

I also enjoy the images of architecture such as high rise buildings and office blocks which hold a characteristic different to the usual. Took a drive into the Central Business District of Johannesburg in South Africa and got some really nice photos of some of the great and historical buildings there. This is where the 2010 world cup is going to take place so I feel the pictures will come in handy for buyers.

I enjoy getting up close and personal with wildlife such as insects, animals or even "man's best friend"...the dog. Have a beautiful close up image of the green locust with its face staring directly into the camera appearing inquisitive. The image is very detailled and i really think I got a great shot with that.

Hope you all enjoy my images and find them useful.

You can check out my istock photos at www.istockphoto.com/lance71

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now that you've found it

nobody@vox.com(kris) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 17:23:16 +0000

it's gone

now that you feel it

you don't

you've gone off the rails...

------------------------------------------

Ok, so there is going to be a self-portrait series here soon. This is nothing I've done previously and probably wouldn't have done out of insecurities/fears/what-if's. It's time though. The images make their way to me and burn.

ps: If they're not fluffy, just think.

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DataMind Srl announces Jade Plugin 1.0.2 for Apple Aperture

nobody@vox.com(prMac) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 10:39:40 +0000

DataMind Srl is proud to announce Jade Plugin 1.0.2, their digital image processing plugin for Apple Aperture. Jade Plugin uses the same identical algorithms and parameters as DataMind's highly acclaimed digital image processing application, Jade 1.2. Implementing state-of-the-art algorithms to enhance color, contrast and dynamic range, Jade Plugin is an easy-to-use image enhancement tool that will automatically improve digital images directly in Aperture.

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Vox Hunt: Going for Gold

nobody@vox.com(kermieladie0) — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 04:25:51 +0000

Share with us your favorite Olympic moment.
Below are the videos and links that I have cover all the Beijing Olympics 2008 in detail.
My favorite got to be, Michael Phelps and my Canadian athletics team. Even though Michael is US team, the world's best swimmer has something else too, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or ADHD, a condition he was diagnosed with in elementary school.
Getty Images YouTube

For The Last Time, I'm Not Michael Phelps!

Beijing 2008: Closing Ceremony

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Q&A with China Photographer & Backpacker Savant Tom Carter

nobody@vox.com(China Photographer Tom Carter) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:17:54 +0000

An Interview With China Photojournalist Tom Carter

American photo-journalist Tom Carter has spent the past four years in the People’s Republic of China, traversing all 33 provinces and autonomous regions not just once but twice. The San Francisco native’s hardback book, a definitive 800-image volume aptly entitled CHINA: Portrait of a People, is due out from Hong Kong publisher Blacksmith Books. Tom took a day off from travelling to discuss the challenges of taking pictures in China, how he evaded censorship in the tightly-controlled republic, and to share a few insider tips on visiting what is to become the world’s largest tourism market.

Your upcoming book focuses heavily on photographs of people, from peasants to punk rockers, ethnic groups to entrepreneurs. As a lone foreigner in a faraway country, how did you approach so many strangers, let alone become intimate enough with them to take their portraits?

Most of my photos came about as a natural result of my curiosity and interaction with Chinese people during my travels. It wasn’t until the end of my trip that I thought about compiling them into a book. This is a tribute to all the people I met along the way.
For the portraits, it just takes a sincere interest in your subjects to get that close. I don’t believe in hiding behind a zoom lens; I was actually as near to all those people as you see in the pictures, sometimes just inches away. The candid life shots, which comprise a good third of the book, were actually more of a challenge. As a foreigner walking down the street in China, all activity stops the moment you are seen, so it’s tricky to photograph life before life stops to stare at you.
I don’t believe any book can capture the true spirit of a country with only pictures of places. Sure, a photo of a sunset over the Great Wall is nice, but what do you really learn from it? I wanted to show the people, and dispel the stereotype of the Chinese as a homogeneous single nationality.

You must speak the language pretty well.

That’s the very first question I always get from other expats I meet in China! It humbles me to admit that my Putonghua borders on offensively poor. I taught English when I first arrived in China, which left me no time to formally study Mandarin. I picked up my entire vocabulary while travelling. I call it Survival Chinese. I can communicate, but I’m usually left out of the gossiping granny circles. A friendly smile works well when all else fails. I might add, though, that Chinese dialects vary widely by province, so even most nationals have trouble understanding other Chinese outside their own hometowns.

You say you came to China as an English teacher, but four years later you’re a published photojournalist and author. Did you plan this career move?

Never, but that’s China for you, a real land of opportunity. Teaching was just a means to an end, which was travelling. Out of that first long year on the road sprung my collection of photos, which resulted in a book contract and travel assignments from various periodicals, which brought me full circle back to my second spin around China. I believe I stand apart from my contemporaries in that I’m not sitting around a cushy foreign correspondents’ club “networking” [makes mock quotes with his fingers] and waiting for my next assignment; I’m out on the road finding my own. But maybe that’s why Reuters still hasn’t called me.

You’ve had a few run-ins with Chinese censorship of your images and articles. Care to share?

The concept of Freedom of the Press, something the west takes for granted, is still entirely alien in Communist China. The media is state-run and every single word and image that comes in and out of the country needs to be approved by the Ministry of Information. Crazy, huh? But since I’m an independent freelancer without the backing of any news agency, I lack official journalist credentials. Most of my images I’ve had to get the hard way, which has often resulted in confrontations with local authorities who view foreign correspondents as a threat.
For example, for the three single frames of coal miners with soot-covered faces that appear in this book, I and my Chinese travelling companion had to spend several days in the mountains of South Shanxi before we were able to sneak into a coal mine, grab a few shots then get the hell out before being caught. Mining is one of the most dangerous and controversial occupations in China, and is entirely off limits to journalists. Some of my best photos are hit-and-run like that.

There’s one incident in particular I want to hear about: a peasant riot that you photographed and which almost got you arrested. Tell us about that.

To be caught up in a proletarian uprising – something both foreign and Chinese reporters in China rarely even hear about, due to rapid suppression of information, let alone eye-witness – was extremely frightening but probably one of the book’s most powerful images. I was subsequently “implored” by the local police to hand over all my photos, under penalty of incarceration, but a couple have managed to slip into the book [winks mischievously]. I’m still in China and would like to be able to leave without a trip to the clink, so it’s not something I can talk about in further detail, nor can we make the photo public until the book is on the shelves.

Guerilla-style documentary photography is something you are obviously proud of. Someone said you have “turned mundane daily life in China into a work of art” but one reviewer wrote that your photographs are “an assault on ordinary people who should be left alone.” What’s your take on such extreme responses?

Which one was the criticism? [Laughs] Actually, I prefer the term ‘street photography’, because that’s exactly what I do. I’m out pounding the pavement from 6am to 6pm every day, learning about the culture through observation and interaction. Many photojournalists cover their assignments as quickly as possible so they can remove themselves from the elements, but I revel in the elements. I don’t have any technical or artistic preconceptions to my photos. The whole idea of spending an hour setting up a shot and then photoshopping it to death afterwards is not what I’m about. I just capture life as it is, then move on. If the picture turns out crooked, so what! Life is crooked!
I have no desire to make something palatable, even if it means not getting on Getty. On the other hand, any of my photos that are considered beautiful I credit entirely to my subjects. They are the ones who deserve the compliments.

China really is a vast country to explore, and you have been to every corner of it – 33 provinces and over 200 cities and villages. Travelling for a living sounds like a life of leisure, but what’s the reality?

You know, forall the tourism I’ve promoted for China with my photos and travel articles, you’d think the CNTA [China National Tourism Administration] could at least have comped my hotels. But the truth is I’ve never received a cent in financial backing. During the two years I spent travelling across China, I slept in 15 RMB [2 USD] flophouses with particleboard walls – which are illegal for foreigners to stay in – with the occasional youth hostel or night on a bus station floor. I taught English for two straight years beforehand so I could save up to travel, and I really had to pinch my pennies to make it last. The upside is that my insolvency resulted in experiences that staying at the Sheraton could never produce.

All travellers are running away from something. What’s your excuse?

I come from a long line of nomads – my mother a Danish immigrant of good Viking stock and my father a hybrid Panamanian-Cuban-Italian – so drifting is in my blood. It’s my dream to travel the world, take pictures and write about it. I have no intention of succumbing to that thirtysomething syndrome of settling down. The world is my home.

So what day-to-day difficulties did you encounter during your marathon journey across China?

You mean hour-to-hour difficulties. My photos might excite a lot of potential tourists, but I’m not going to sugar-coat the reality of actually travelling in China. The consensus among backpackers is that China is probably the single most challenging country in the world to navigate. Aside from the obvious language barriers, you have 5,000-year old customs and extreme cultural differences that can be quite vexing for the typical westerner. Most of these nuances are not something that you can catch on film; travellers have to discover them for themselves, and that’s part of the fun.

What keeps you going?

I delight in the challenges that a country like China poses to westerners. Sure, I occasionally catch myself pounding the wall in frustration, but the thing about the PRC is that every turn is a new adventure. For me there’s nothing worse than being bored, and boredom is just not possible in China. See these lines on my face? They weren’t there before.

How did you plan your routes?

I haven’t planned a single route since I arrived in China four years ago. I just point myself in a direction, then let life carry me on its current. Not only does every Chinese person you ask where to go have an excitedly different opinion – even about which way is north – but there are so many undiscovered villages that are off the charts. Not to mention that the time it takes to get to these places is often days longer than how it appears on a map, making an itinerary kind of pointless.

Tell us more about surprises along the way, and any dangerous situations you’ve been in.

Surprises are the rule, not the exception. In addition to clashes with the authorities over my pictures, I’ve had everything from a near-lethal bout of encephalitis during my first year in China, to getting shanghaied by crooked English schools, which I wrote about for the Wall Street Journal. One of my favourites is the time I found myself at the business end of a North Korean machine gun when I accidentally crossed into the DPRK at Changbaishan. These are all stories I can laugh about now, though my mother doesn’t think so.

It’s said that China is now undergoing the most prolonged period of sustained change in history. How has it changed since you have lived there, and how will it change in the near future?

I think China’s most dramatic changes have been brought on by itself and that the now-clichéd term “New China” was something methodically planned out in their boardrooms. The Chinese government is addicted to what I call hyper-urbanization. You’ve got historic cities like Beijing, where they are bulldozing these ancient hutongs by the hour so they can build office towers, or the 2,000-year-old village of Gongtan in Chongqing that is going to be levelled this summer for a new power plant. I wrote an article about Gongtan for a local magazine but it was quickly quashed because the censorship bureau said “We don’t want to bring any attention to that place.” These contrasts in architecture appear in my book because I feel it is imperative to capture this last glimpse of China’s old slate rooftops before the skyline becomes pure steel and glass. CHINA: Portrait of a People will probably become a history book, something Chinese people will look at twenty years from now and say “Ah yes, I remember.”

It seems like everyone wants to know more about China these days. Do you see more people planning on visiting the country?

China will become the world’s largest tourism destination of the next decade, no doubt about it. The 2008 Beijing Olympics and Shanghai’s World Expo in 2010 are expected to attract between 50 to 100 million tourists annually. China’s doors were closed for so long that it’s only natural the world is curious about what’s behind them. What the pictures in Portrait of a People are doing is fuelling this curiosity by offering an intimate glimpse of humanity in China, and scenes of daily life that even publications like National Geographic overlook.

You’re something of an authority now on Chinese travel. Can you offer any tips for travellers?

Well, what China wants tourists to see is often at variance with what is actually marvellous about the country. You’ve got these highly-sheltered tour group packages that cover the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Terracotta Warriors in Shaanxi, a boat ride on the Yangtze and shopping in Shanghai [makes yawning noise]. Or you can remove yourself from the souvenir shops and luxury hotels, get a local street map and travel on word-of-mouth. Lonely Planet would go bankrupt if people actually took my travel advice, but you definitely see more of the real China my way.

Finally, what’s next for someone who’s been everywhere in China?

My publisher and I have been talking about taking the “Portrait of a People” concept to other countries in the region. I would jump at the chance. So I have no idea where I’ll be this time next year.

###

China expert and photojournalist Tom Carter spent 2 years backpacking to all 33 provinces in China to compile the photographs in his groundbreaking, 600-page tribute CHINA: Portrait of a People, the most comprehensive book of photography on modern China ever published by a single author, available directly from Blacksmith Books.

CHINA: Portrait of a People, by Tom Carter
Genre: Travel / Photography / Art / China
ISBN: 978-988-99799-42
Size: 15cm x 15cm, soft cover, 640 pages, 800 full color images, with maps of each province
Published: Summer 2008 by Blacksmith Books, Hong Kong, in association with Haven Books
Price: US$35.95

Also for sale: Tom's super cool China postcards.

CHINA: Portrait of a People ~ the book trailer

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The Most Beautiful Villages in China, by Tom Carter

nobody@vox.com(China Photographer Tom Carter) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 10:01:38 +0000

Top 5 Chinese Villages

by Tom Carter, author of CHINA: Portrait of a People

China, the mystery of the Orient, and also its greatest paradox. The fastest growing economy in the world from history’s oldest civilization, whence steel and glass skylines are haloed by crumbling walls and well-heeled bankers rub shoulders with barefooted ethnic minorities.

The country is amidst one of the most rapid transformations in its vast history, what this author calls the Dynasty of Change, yet also remains a veritable kingdom of the ancients.

During my two-year journey to every province and autonomous region in the People’s Republic, I have been blessed to visit both the gleaming metropolises of China’s future and the sepia toned remnants of its past.

The following series of photos, taken from my upcoming book of photography ‘CHINA: Portrait of a People,’ are what I personally consider the most beautiful sites of Old China; those remote villages that have yet to meet China’s wrecking ball, and a proud people contented to proceed with their antediluvian customs as they have for five thousand years.

To be sure, villages such as Lijiang in Yunnan and Jiangsu’s Zhouzhuang are at once protected heritage sites and popular tour group destinations offering an accessible and attractive albeit faux look at traditional village life.

But for a glimpse into China’s true history, an excursion in the opposite direction from the crowds, off the proverbial beaten path, will reward the intrepid traveler with sites and experiences incomparable.

QIAN NIAN YAO ZHAI, Liannan Yao Autonomous County, Guangdong

Overshadowed by the neon glare of Guangzhou, South China’s notorious capital city of concrete, crowds and crime, and lost in the karst peaks of North Guangdong, 1,000 year-old Qian Nian Yao Zhai is the largest and oldest Yao minority village in the country. Over 7,000 red-turbaned Yao tribespeople once occupied the sloping stone and slate homes. However poverty and generational differences have dramatically reduced the population to less than 200 residents, leaving the mountain village a perfectly preserved portrait of traditional Yao culture.

GONGTAN, Youyang Tujia-Miao Autonomous County, Chongqing

Nestled beneath the Wuling Mountains and overlooking the jade shoals of the Wu Jiang River, rustic Gongtan was founded in 200AD and is home to the region’s Tujia minority people. For centuries accessible only by boat, the Ming Dynasty-era estates are constructed entirely out of wood and perched on stilts against the steep palisades. Unfortunately, the 2,000 year-old architecture is fated for the pyres of modernization when the municipality’s local government will bulldoze the village this fall to build the Pengshui Hydro Power Plant. Visit while you can!

LANGMUSI, Gansu-Sichuan border

Historically, Sichuan used to be part of Kham Tibet and it wouldn’t be inconceivable to think that most Tibetans do not recognize the provincial boundaries of government-drawn maps nor the ethnic divisions of census bureaus. Located 3,000 meters atop the mountains of West China and directly on the Gansu-Sichuan border, Langmusi is a slat-board settlement and spiritual stopover for resplendent Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims come to worship at the Sezhi and Geerdeng monasteries. Despite the recent earthquakes in northern Sichuan province, Langmusi was blessed to remain unscathed and thusly one of the region's last standing traditional villages.

TIANLUOKENG, Fujian

West Fujian’s Hakka people, a subgroup of the Han, migrated to South China during the Qin Dynasty and, to protect themselves from hostile locals, ingeniously constructed clusters of circular, fortress-like homes directly out of the elements. The Tulou rammed-earth structures of Nanjing County span 4 stories and up to 40,000 square meters, housing up to one hundred residents apiece - the epitome of Chinese communal living. Unlike the quick rise and fall of so many of China’s modern buildings, the average tulou home takes up to FIVE years to complete, involving complex carpentry and masonry that defy even the most astute architects. Fengshui is also factored into the attractive tulou design, along with an aesthetic ability to blend into the surrounding countryside – no white tiles here!

ZENGCHONG, Miao-Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou

With ethnic minorities maintaining over 40% of the provincial population, Guizhou is China’s least developed but arguable most attractive region. A constellation of uncharted settlements populate the mountains of South-East Guizhou, most notably the secluded Dong village of Zengchong. Surrounded by pyramid-like rice terraces and protected by a crystalline moat, the small islet supports 100 tightly-packed slat board residences and a three hundred year-old wooden drum tower. Master carpenters for centuries, the Dong have beyond a doubt constructed the most beautiful village in China.

###

China expert and photojournalist Tom Carter spent 2 years backpacking to all 33 provinces in China to compile the photographs in his groundbreaking, 600-page tribute CHINA: Portrait of a People, the most comprehensive book of photography on modern China ever published by a single author, available directly from Blacksmith Books.

CHINA: Portrait of a People ~ the book trailer

Purchase CHINA: Portrait of a People online
View the China portraits video on YouTube
Also check out Tom Carter's super-cool China postcards

Add Tom Carter to your Facebook

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China is Destroying Itself, by Tom Carter

nobody@vox.com(China Photographer Tom Carter) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 09:57:53 +0000

China is Destroying Itself, by Tom Carter

In four months or less, a 1,700-year-old village, and the mountain life it preserves, will see water seep through the ancient wood homes, rising higher and higher, until it is completely submerged beneath the jade shoals of the Wu River.

Gongtan of the Youyang Tujia-Miao Autonomous County in southeast Chongqing will unfortunately meet the same fate as countless other unprotected historical sites across China being leveled in the name of innovation.

In its place, the Pengshui Hydro Power Plant will be resurrected, not exactly an attractive replacement for the antiquated beauty of Gongtan, but nonetheless a much-needed jolt for a municipality suffering from regular power outages.

Controversial waterworks are nothing new to Chongqing, the largest inland river port in West China. The Three Gorges Dam project along the Yangtze, one of China’s crucial transportation arteries linking the country’s interior with coastal provinces, is essential to the region’s freight and power industries, but as a result saw numerous small towns and nature reserves sacrificed to the river gods.

Now, one of the Yangtze’s chief tributaries, the Wu River, has also been targeted for its hydro-electrical attributes, sparing neither nature nor culture to ensure that all of Chongqing’s neon lights continue to glow brightly.

Ironically, Gongtan has never known neon and was only recently introduced to electricity. For centuries accessible only by boat, Gongtan is home to the Tujia people, one of China’s more isolated ethnic minorities who hale from the surrounding Wuling Mountains.

Founded in 200 A.D., the rustic village is a living museum that might seem more destined as a World Heritage Site than a construction site. Designed entirely out of stone and wood in the diaojiaolou-style stilt architecture, the Ming dynasty-era homes are perched against the sloping gorge, facing the sheer, misty palisades which flank the Wu rapids.

Steep, mossy steps lead up from the rocky banks and a single, black flagstone path, polished from centuries of footsteps, traces the 2 kilometer length of the quiet village, a veritable portrait of mountain life as it has been for almost 2,000 years. The slat-wood buildings progress vertically, each offering an increasingly attractive panoramic vista of slate rooftops, the hallmark site of this ancient village.

Unfortunately, the intricately carved work of art that is Gongtan will soon be thrown together in a fateful pyre as the Tujia populous move several kilometers upriver to a white-tiled eyesore already suffering from the noise, pollution and congestion indicative of so many new side-of-the-road Chinese communities.

The land expropriation was in fact opposed by Gongtan residents, who successfully petitioned the central government in Beijing over the property confiscation and were awarded financial compensation for their centuries-old homes. Nonetheless, many Gongtan villagers still refuse to evacuate the aged neighborhood, thus delaying power plant construction until at least the fall of 2007.

This last-ditch effort to damn the dam is of course no match for the bulldozers, but it at least leaves an extended window of opportunity for travelers with an affinity for Chinese history to catch one last glimpse of the real deal before Gongtan is inevitably sent to its watery grave.
Travel Tips Getting there: From Chongqing, catch a morning coach from the east bus station to Pengshui (six hours, ¥90), then a taxi to the local ferry terminal for an upriver boat to Gongtan (five hours, ¥20).

Where to stay: There are several family-run guesthouses directly overlooking the Wu River with simple, creaky wood rooms wallpapered with old newspaper (¥30 per bed).

###

CHINA: Portrait of a People ~ the book trailer

Purchase CHINA: Portrait of a People online
View the China portraits video on YouTube
Also check out Tom Carter's super-cool China postcards

Add Tom Carter to your Facebook

Read and post comments | Send to a friend