https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/trains/2022-07-14T23:07:12+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/1-canals/2022-07-13T19:54:00+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/scenics/2022-07-13T19:49:44+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/urban/2022-07-13T19:45:01+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/country-life/https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/countrylifeseparator.jpgCountryLifeSeparatorhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/205-009-yingshan-family-re-union.jpgReunion205-009 Family Re-union I didn’t intrude to ask, but it seemed that the husband was returning, probably from city work; his mother was beaming, the wife, reserved as a Chinese wife has to be, was pleased. Perhaps that is her brother holding the baby.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/205-008-muscle-power.jpgRural205-008 Muscle Power The loads that women carried was astounding. I noticed that some of the roughest labor in road building was done by women. Later, when World Bank loans brought in modern highway construction machinery and techniques women were relieved of that knd of labor, but not farm labor.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/205-007-family-on-ox-driven-cart.jpgOx Cart205-007 Family on Ox-Driven Cart This was a common sight not only in the countryside, but also in the cities as well. Busses did not serve every community yet and taxis were far to few and far too expensive for ordinary citizens. Note the stroller; it is made of bamboo.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/205-002-great-wall-1979-1.jpgGreat Wall205-002 Great Wall 1979 The great wall was a conumdrum for the communist government. Was it a despicable monument to tyrants who ordered citizens to buld it, or was it a monument to China’s engineering genius and the hard work and dedication of the laboring class? The wall deteriorated during the last imperial dynasty because the ruling Manchus had come from beyond the wall. Then revolution, invasion, occupation, WWII and civil war did not allow any preservation work. Thus, this is what visitors saw of the wall in 1979; soon, however, the promise of riches through tourism brought about restoration.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/204-226-prosperous-gentry-house-1.jpgHouse and farm scene 1987#204-226 This house once belonged to a landowner of the class that was eliminated when the Communist Party came to power in 1949. It features the traditional architecture of a walled compound with the principles of fengshui observed: a hill behind the house, a broad outlook in front with sub-dwellings for servants and the owner’s house set to the rear. The tile roof signifies considerable prosperity. Many such houses were demolished in the 1990’s and later. The beautiful, detailed, fine wooden carvings that went into the decorations such as doors, windows and panels found their way into various antique markets. When filmmakers wanted to create period films, they faced increasing difficulties locating older houses like this.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/204-209-horses-parking-lot.jpgHorse compound on market day 1987#204-209 On market day, carters are hired to transport farm produce and handicraft products to town. This lot is where they rest and feed their horses and swap gossip and news.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/204-202-village-sales-demo.jpgVillage sales demo 1987#204-202 “Snake oil” salesmen were common throughout small villages as well as large cities. China still has a long way to go in such matters as standards for medical and pharmaceutical products. These hawkers also served as a form of entertainment making people laugh and listen avidly. In the rural villages people tend to take them seriously. The police often run them along, especially when they block traffic or attract too large a crowd.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/204-181a-boy-and-man-w-oxen-1.jpgBoy and father w oxen in field 1987#204-181a This boy is leading the oxen while his father handles the plow in the same way it has been done for centuries all over Asia. His father was considered very fortunate to have a son during the one child only era. There are no government pensions for farmers, so a son ensures the economic survival of the family in addition to carrying on the family’s name. Farming, by its very nature, is labor intensive. Under government and economic pressure, triple cropping has become common in the south and in turn subjects farmers to a relentless year round work routine.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/204-180-rice-paddie-1.jpgRice paddies 1989#204-180 The paddy in the foreground has been plowed, flooded and ready for smoothing and planting. Behind it, a farmer is planting seedlings that have been grown in a richly fertilized special plot out of sight. On the left someone is bringing two more baskets of seedlings for the planter. All of this backbreaking stoop labor is conducted from dawn to dusk. In the south where the weather is warm, triple cropping means there is no respite during the winter months such as occurs in the north.2022-07-13T19:38:04+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/4-modification/2022-07-13T19:36:50+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/5-muscle/https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/musclepowerseparator.jpgMusclePowerSeparator2022-07-13T19:35:42+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/bicycles/2022-07-13T19:33:24+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/minorities/2022-07-13T19:32:39+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/children/https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/scenics_separator.jpgScenics_Separatorhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/205-002-great-wall-1979.jpgGreat Wall205-002 Great Wall 1979 The great wall was a conumdrum for the communist government. Was it a despicable monument to tyrants who ordered citizens to buld it, or was it a monument to China’s engineering genius and the hard work and dedication of the laboring class? The wall deteriorated during the last imperial dynasty because the ruling Manchus had come from beyond the wall. Then revolution, invasion, occupation, WWII and civil war did not allow any preservation work. Thus, this is what visitors saw of the wall in 1979; soon, however, the promise of riches through tourism brought about restoration.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/204-226-prosperous-gentry-house.jpgHouse and farm scene 1987#204-226 This house once belonged to a landowner of the class that was eliminated when the Communist Party came to power in 1949. It features the traditional architecture of a walled compound with the principles of fengshui observed: a hill behind the house, a broad outlook in front with sub-dwellings for servants and the owner’s house set to the rear. The tile roof signifies considerable prosperity. Many such houses were demolished in the 1990’s and later. The beautiful, detailed, fine wooden carvings that went into the decorations such as doors, windows and panels found their way into various antique markets. When filmmakers wanted to create period films, they faced increasing difficulties locating older houses like this.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/204-181a-boy-and-man-w-oxen.jpgBoy and father w oxen in field 1987#204-181a This boy is leading the oxen while his father handles the plow in the same way it has been done for centuries all over Asia. His father was considered very fortunate to have a son during the one child only era. There are no government pensions for farmers, so a son ensures the economic survival of the family in addition to carrying on the family’s name. Farming, by its very nature, is labor intensive. Under government and economic pressure, triple cropping has become common in the south and in turn subjects farmers to a relentless year round work routine.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/204-180-rice-paddie.jpgRice paddies 1989#204-180 The paddy in the foreground has been plowed, flooded and ready for smoothing and planting. Behind it, a farmer is planting seedlings that have been grown in a richly fertilized special plot out of sight. On the left someone is bringing two more baskets of seedlings for the planter. All of this backbreaking stoop labor is conducted from dawn to dusk. In the south where the weather is warm, triple cropping means there is no respite during the winter months such as occurs in the north.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/204-168a-two-men-on-raft-1.jpgTwo man on raft 1987#204-168a China is a fiercely hierarchical country. We see this in human relationships as well as throughout society, including on the roads. Big trucks automatically have the right of way everywhere and at all times. Busses can bully automobiles, cyclists have no rights against autos, and cyclists show little concern for pedestrians. So also on the waterways, as we see here, with two rafters frantically trying to avoid a ferry. The rafters are floating logs down the Yangtze River to a lumber mill. Building materials were in high demand for housing at this time because for the first thirty years of the PRC all resources were devoted to heavy industry. Mao was obsessed with the idea of building up China’s military strength so that China would never again be put under the guns of the Western Powers. This policy resulted in too little housing built for China’s rapidly increasing population.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/204-037-woman-w-child-and-pony-at-jinsha-river.jpgJinshaw Jiang Woman, child w pony near upper Yangtze river 1987#204-037 These are the upper rapids of the Jinsha (Golden Sands) River in Yunnan Province before it expands to become the mighty Yangze River. The Yangtze, the Mekong and the Irawaddy Rivers all begin near each other in the melting glaciers of Tibet, but only the Yangtze bends eastward to flow into the Pacific Ocean near Shanghai, while the others irrigate Southeast Asia. The woman with the packhorse is a member of the Naxi minority. In this remote region there were two minorities with lifestyles very distinct from the national majority people, the Han: one group practiced slavery until the late 1950’s. When interviewed, members of this group who were slaves said their greatest goal in life was to themselves own slaves. The other group featured a matriarchal society whereby women headed the household. A daughter who took in a husband under terms that put the husband under the rule of the mother. Women were free to sleep with any number of men until finally selecting one for a lifelong mate. Should children be born of any liaison that child joined the mother’s household and there was no opprobrium attached to the matter.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/200-007-canal-town-and-boats-2.jpgCanal Town and boats 1979#200-007 A long string of barges are towed around a bend in the canal town of Suzhou while two stinky barges convey night soil from the town to the outlying farms. This is part of the Grand Canal that began in 600 CE and which is now the world's longest man-made waterway. Needing to cross many rivers of varying levels, the solution was to develop water locks many centuries before their appearance in Europe.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/189-015b-hangzhou-girl-reading-on-bench-at-riverside.jpgHangzhou girl reading on bench at riverside 1979#189-015b This student was waiting for the light of dawn to begin her study for her college entrance exams. The exam included heavy doses of Marxism and Maoism. "We know it's useless," she said, "but we need it to pass the exams." Many students in Hangzhou waited for daylight like this in parks all across China. They said their homes were too dark, too cramped and too noisy for study.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/189-012-hangzhou-couple-on-bench-at-riverside-1.jpgHangzhou couple on bench at riverside 1979#189-012 The Communist Party policies during its first decades ruled out any overt expressions of romance and Party permission was required for marriage. After 1979 these policies were relaxed. This couple could now sit together on the shore of West Lake, but not too close. That freedom would not come until the 1990's.2022-07-13T19:31:27+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/home/https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/authorseparator.jpgAuthorSeparatorhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/044-032-don-w-minority-girl-1.jpgDon Gibbs with minotiy girl 1986The photographer, Don Gibbs, with a young lady of the Bai nationality in Yunnan Province, in the 1980's.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/204-052-don-driving-loaded-cart.jpgDon Gibbs driving tractor 1987Photographer/professor Don Gibbs posing on tractor-truck conversion. The loads piled on were staggering. The springs just ahead of the rear wheel are down flat from the load.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/204-049-don-w-hardhat.jpgDon Gibbs with hard hat at prison camp 1987Photographer/professor Don Gibbs in a rock quarry in the Yunnan Mountains that doubled as a reformatory for young men arrested for fighting. In this photo taken by a fellow inmate, they have swapped hats and enjoying each other’s company. This remote prison did not need fences. There were no incentives to escape because travel without a permit was forbidden and police blanketed the country. In addition, the mountains were extremely steep and the rapids surrounding the quarry too swift and dangerous to cross. An American group attempted to ride the rapids with state-of-the-art equipment but failed. The Chinese subsequently launched their own expedition to shoot the same rapids and many lives were lost. Eventually a Chinese team did make it through safely. A nearby mountain called Yulong Xueshan, or Jade Snow Mountain, had never been climbed when I was there in 1987. That year, an American team of mountaineers headed by a man from Davis, California, made an attempt to reach the summit. They were turned back by blizzards near the top. It was a bitter disappointment having to come off the mountain and go home. There was a lot of publicity before the climb and much work to get permission from the Chinese government. Such is the terrain surrounding this reformatory. Eventually, the first team to reach the summit was from Japan. Thereafter many Chinese teams were also successful.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/120-094-photographer-don-gibbs-in-crowd-1979-1.jpgPhotographer Don Gibbs in crowd 1979If I just stood still for a moment a crowd would gather around me. Then as they discovered I spoke Chinese the crowd swelled and sometimes stopped traffic. Except for an occasional policeman, never once was anyone hostile; which was remarkable after all those years of anti-American propaganda.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/070-120-lorettas-cousin-hospital-1.jpgShanghai asylum for former Red Guards 1979Chairman MaoÕs Cultural Revolution (1966-76) closed schools. Young city people were sent to the countryside to be re-educated by poor farmers. Separated from their homes and families for an undetermined time and forced to live in shocking conditions, the emotional suffering for some was unbearable. The strong ancient tradition of respect for elders and parents was put under attack. Youngsters were taught to mistrust their parents and to see them as a bad influence. Many young people, such as the young woman here in the front row, second from the left, were driven insane and placed in asylums filled with people about her same age. The young woman, now deceased, was my wifeÕs niece. Her mother, my wifeÕs sister, committed suicide. The photographer, Don Gibbs, is standing on the left. The doctor is the tall man in the center: the girlÕs father on the far right. The mother is in the left front row. The girlsÕ aunt, Loretta Gibbs (photographerÕs wife) is on the front right. All the others are nurses.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/poniesseparator.jpgPoniesSeparator2022-07-11T23:31:12+00:00weekly0.6https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/portfolio/3-pony-bicycles/https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/204-162-cu-of-woman-and-pony.jpgGirl with pony 1987#204-162 Most Yunnanese ponies wear a leather collar ringed with bells so that they tinkle with every step and the effect of a convoy of ponies is very charming. In 1979 long strings of these ponies entered Kunming City every morning bringing fresh produce to market. The small wooden contraption on the pony’s back is for fastening cargo and for hitching a wagon. These ponies are patient, docile, hard-working and sure-footed animals. Every morning just at dawn I would hear a long train of about twenty ponies passing by my hotel. The sound of so many pony bells was unforgettable. Truck replacements and exhaust fumes can never match that charm.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/204-003-girls-on-horse-cart.jpgGirls on pony cart 1987#204-003 In 1979, people in northern Shaanxi Province were still living in caves. In the countryside, one-cylinder tractors converted to mini-trucks were slowly replacing pony carts that have been in use for over 2000 years. For hundreds of years, the combination of China’s government policies and the extreme and vast remoteness of the country made a white foreigner a rare visitor. These girls are surprised to see a foreigner and greeted me with amusement and puzzlement. But when I spoke out in fluent Chinese there was a warm response and hospitality.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/026-051-pony-cart-in-village-bw-1.jpgPony cart in village 1987#026-051 These little Yunnanese ponies wear a leather ring of bells around their neck that jingle with each step. You hear caravans of them every morning as they head into Kunming with produce from the surrounding countryside. Ponies have always played an important role in Chinese culture and have existed before the earliest dynasties.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/204-007-horse-cart-w-ceramic-pots-1.jpgHorse cart with ceramic load 1987#204-007 For over 2,500 years, pony carts have been used in China for transportation of goods. This particular old cart has been “modernized” with inflatable rubber tires. The clay pots have been manufactured in the countryside and are destined for commercial establishments such as restaurants or hotels in the city. The small openings and the size of the jars indicate they are used to store liquids such as soy sauce or cooking oils.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/204-150-three-men-on-pony-cart.jpgThree men on pony cart 1987#204-150 These stout little Yunnanese ponies found all over the provinces are depended upon to do much of the transportation work. The carters haul passengers as well as cargo. The charge was for distance unless a load was particularly heavy, and of course it involved a lot of spirited haggling. The Chinese have been using ponies for over 2,500 years and are still in use in many areas of the country.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/103-005-melencholy-young-woman-1.jpgMelencholy young woman on pony cart.#103-005 A young woman captured in a pensive moment guarding her family’s pony cart at the village market. The pony cart is a combination of old and new. The wheels are spoked and feature modern rubber tires but the woodwork joinery of the wagon is reflective of old world skills handed down for centuries.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/204-164-pony-cart-w-plastic-tarp.jpgPony cart w plastic tarp 1987#204-164 This pony cart with passengers is travelling through Yunnan Province on a section of the old Burma Road that was made famous in WWII. It has now been replaced by a modern superhighway. For over 2,500 year, little Yunnanese pony carts like this one were a common sight. The ponies are hardy and the passengers who rode in such carts had to be hardy too, for the roads were rough. There were no springs on the wagon and no cushions on the seats.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/046-039a-pony-cart-w-couple-and-buses-1.jpgPony cart w couple with buses 1986#046-039a This is the main Yunnan highway from Dali to Shaping. It is also a highway where the old China collides with the new resulting in many tragic accidents due to mixed traffic. Ponies have been used in China for over 2000 years. It is only natural for them to run the center of the road.https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/204-155-two-minorities-on-pony-cart.jpgTwo minorities on pony cart 1987#204-155 Minority women coming to town to shop in their quick-stepping Yunnanese pony cart. The adobe brick constructed building behind the cart is the town clinic.2022-07-11T23:04:50+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/contact/2019-10-30T18:54:19+00:00weekly0.6https://dongibbschinaphotos.com/2018/12/14/grand-canal-2/2018-12-17T22:59:54+00:00monthlyhttps://dongibbschinaphotos.com/blog/2018-12-17T22:41:58+00:00weekly0.6https://dongibbschinaphotos.comdaily1.02022-07-14T23:07:12+00:00