China Obscura
Arriving in mainland China by chance just a day after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, young Chinese-American photographer Mark Leong was compelled to stay and explore with his camera's lens the fascinating contradictions of a rapidly changing but still intensely traditional Chinese society. Living in Beijing and traveling across China for the past fifteen years, he has captured images that astonish with their power and with his unprecedented access to both official and underground Chinese culture. This is a China rarely seen, where schoolchildren learn the tenets of Mao and an addict sifts heroin on a bill bearing the Chairman's benevolent likeness; where nervous stockbrokers carry handguns and teenage rollerbladers hope for fame and financial sponsorship. In more than 150 photographs, with a foreword by noted Chinese poet Yang Lian and an afterword by author Peter Hessler, China Obscura is an intimate and exquisitely detailed portrait of a society accelerating toward an uncertain future, precariously straddled between old and new.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0811844617
ISBN13:9780811844611
Release Date:August 2004
Publisher:Chronicle Books
Length:224 Pages
Weight:1.55 lbs.
Dimensions:1.0" x 1.0" x 1.0"
Customer Reviews
3 ratings
Great document of post-Tianamen China
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 16 years ago
Mark's work embodies the raw feeling and sense I've always felt in China. His work is journalistic in it's explorations and perspective, and serves as a great document and window for everyone to see a slice of post-Tianamen (1989 - 2003) China. An easy add to anyone's library of books on China.
Excellent pictography on China
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
Leong's beautiful, yet haunting photographs show us a side of China not covered by the media's focus on China's economic growth story. The compositions are arresting and the content intriguing.
China from the ground up
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 20 years ago
First, full disclosure: I have known Mark Leong for 10 years and worked with him as a colleague in China. So this may account for my bias, but I believe that his photos of modern-day China are among the best taken during the post-Tiananmen era. During my decade as a correspondent in China, I always wanted to work with Mark because I thought his gritty, in-your-face pictures captured a side of China that often was overlooked. Instead of showing us the by-now stock shots of high-rises and neon lights, he took viewers to the street level, his 28mm lens always getting reeeeaallly close up into people's faces. I loved it and this book brings back in superb detail the China that I knew in the late 20th and early 21st century. I strongly recommend it for anyone interested in China--it's a beautiful, affordable addition to anyone's library.
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