Images from China

[Brainaddict]

Any chance of taking the political discussion about China to a different forum and letting people comment on the photos?

It is the photo forum after all!

I also posted without looking at what forum it was in. If he'd just posted photos he would have just got comments on his photos, but he posted political commentary with them - so people responded to that too. Seems only natural to me - and the other forums aren't exactly purist in sticking to their topic either

 

[johey24]

i also find the comments from OP are inclining to the rosy side with his/her assumptions/perceptions. same applies to the photos and their comments on johey24's flickr.

this means no offense, but even though a foreigner can live couple years in china and experience life in china with the locals, that doesn't mean s/he is able to grasp the chinese psyche. a smiling face in the street doesn't represent they live a happy life all the time.

thanks for sharing the photos though.
and to comment on the photos regarding to their artistic values?
i find them too croppy and photoshopped.

Thanks for the comments on the photos dada.

However, I do not own phoptoshop. been thinking of getting it, though.

 

[Orang Utan]

Indeed, it's a bit cheeky to post photos with a political commentary and then ask people not to make political comments!

 

[Jessiedog]

Agreed.

The idea that there is religious freedom in China is ridiculous.

Just 'cos there are nice churches, doesn't mean that those churches aren't reserved solely for the state-approved Christians.

Try and worship in any other "church" and it's off to the laogoi with you.

That said, it's complex, the vast majority of people are as happy as anyone in the west - perhaps happier - and the levels of personal freedom are far beyond those usually imagined by many without deep experience of the country.

But there are well-understood lines-in-the-sand that it's inadvisable to cross and those that do, know the consequences.




Perhaps johey may wish to edit the first post and remove the political commentary/propaganda and then we can all get on and enjoy the piccies.

A new thread in World Politics perhaps, johey



Woof

 

[Jessiedog]

China's population and specifically its rural population is something of a moot point. Most of the 'experts' that I spoke to in China (academics, journalists, long-term residents and travel writers) were of the opinion that the population of China has been massively underestimated.

The one child policy is more of a foreign policy gimmick than a viable domestic policy and there is very little evidence of it outside of the major urban centres (Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou etc..). In rural areas in particular families will have their one 'official' child who they can register with the authorities to go to school and hopefully university, but the other siblings will remain off any registers to avoid punitive taxation levels. The 'non-kids' stay with the family to work their land, something of crucial importance in a country where the majority of farming is still not properly mechanised. There are supposed to be hundreds of millions of these peasant kids that don't officially exist.

The point I'm trying to make is that China is a mind-bogglingly large country with an almost absurd official population of 1.3 billion. Add on to that the likely 500 million (give or take 100 million) of non-registered kids and immigrants and you have a gargantuan population approaching 2 billion. So when people talk about the dynamic, thrusting young China that's awash with money and charged with self-confidence, even if they're referring to 100 or 200 million yuppies, that' still only a tiny, tiny fraction of the population.

From what I could see Chinese society is very skewiff but a the moment the level of growth and the abundant evidence that people can improve their lot in their lifetime is just about holding it together.

That said, it seems a bit late to salvage this thread in "Photo's" - and there's some interesting comment/debate here.





Perhaps this one could be moved to World Politics and johey could start a new "Photos" thread without political comment?







Woof