Check Out CHINA: Portrait Of A People Fashioned By Tom Carter Accessible Through Kindle

one picture is worth a thousand words, then this striking work is worth a million words, At.x.cms andpages this book is more like a box of photos a wonderfully diverse photographic exploration of Chinas people and culture,

The magic of photography is that it captures a glimpse in time that would otherwise be lost, an insight into another world, This is a book that belongs on the coffee table not the bookshelf, A treasure to be shared, Thank you, Tom Carter. I first started travelling in China in the earlys when it started to open up after the Cultural Revolution, I travelled by train to Kunming, Sichuan and Mongolia, I cycled cross country through Fujian, Guangzhou and Hainan, sailed down the Yangtse leaving justdays before the Tian An Man massacre.
These photographs capture the fleeting present of an onrushing China, What an extraordinary time these lastyears have been, Tom Carter has captured an extraordinary amount, I hope to see more, Anyone interested in China will love this book, author: Jonathan Chamberlain
This is a book that, from the outset, looks unassuming and tidy, but as soon as you open the pages, it's like taking a long, beautiful walk through China.
Tom Carter's photography is so evocative and personal that I immediately felt transported back to China, a place I've known for many years but never like this,

The structure of the book, which leads you through various regions of China via brief captions and a range of photographsof people, architecture, scenery, etc, is the perfect way through which to comprehend China visually, There is such a striking range of personal portraits, evidence of a photographer who clearly understands that China is not 'one thing' but is, as the title suggests, a colorful mosaic of peoples gathered in one everchanging land.
When a Pixel Portrays a Hundred Thousand Words

A picture painted a thousand words, That was before Tom Carter started taking them, Now, it seems, a pixel portrays a hundred thousand and that's for those of us with limited imagination!

I first came across Tom's work through his travel writing while doing some background research for EATING SMOKE a book about the time I spent roughing' it in Hong Kong and China.
Not only did Tom's unrestrained generosity and supercharged positivity towards people and place change the course of my life in the first of many kindly returned emails, but upon purchasing CHINA: PORTRAIT OF A PEOPLE it became immediately apparent how this philanthropic aura extends to the subjects he captures through a lens.


Tianjin to Tibet, Shanghai to Sichuan, Hong Kong to Henan, Tom takes you on a serendipitous journey river deep, mountain high, citywide, countryside to reveal the relationship between a vast, enigmatic and relatively unknown land and its incredibly diverse population.


From the birthplace of Chinese civilisation on the banks of the Yellow River, to the birthplace of Shaolin kung fu on the sacred peak of Song Shan, to a proud mother soon to give birth in the Year of the Golden Pig.
. . to the growth of the Christian Movement in Hong Kong, rice in the paddies of Nanjing and consumerism in Hangzhou, . . to the demise of traditional housing in Jinan, the death of a puppy in Siberia's frozen wastes and the resting places of honoured ancestors in Macao, his images usher you fullcircle through all walks of life in all of the Middle Kingdom's thirtythree provinces.


Tom's discerning eye combines the deliberate, the subtle, the fortuitous, the impromptu and the random to create a candid and affecting collage that juxtaposes young and old, shiny and crumbling, ancient and modern, humble and brash, happy and sad, and beauty with the occasional frank ugliness to provide an exceptional upcloseandpersonal incite into a proud people whose individuality differs greatly and whose way of life stretches across a millennia, and shows a country so swept up in the paradox of global capitalism that, if not careful, it will look upon CHINA: PORTRAIT OF A PEOPLE in the nottoodistant future with nostalgia as the preeminent historical record.


This book took me on a truly remarkable voyage one that many will be delighted to complete in armchair comfort as they flick through its pages, awestruck by such an undertaking and grateful for its profundity, while others will reach for their backpacks, further inspired to set out and snatch a peek at this extraordinary country and meet some of its colourful inhabitants for themselves.


My only criticism of Tom's contribution is when he says The snapshots in this book are not meant to be works of art, '

If this isn't Art, Tom, . . then I don't care to see what is,
Infinite assortment of snapshots from Chinasprovinces, Carter is reportedly one of the few foreigners to have ever made this journey, and I have yet to see any other photo book about China match this one in terms of scope and depth.
welldeserved! Very Enjoyable! The photography reveals the authors primary eye for rural life and how he captures the heart and soul of everyday people, China has both modern and traditional aspects, which are lovely contrasted in the book,

There are images of skyscrapers, hipsters, and pinklight districts, In contrast, to tribal clothing, Buddhist monks, the Terracotta Army, shufa calligraphy, and Kung Fu schools,

There is a beautiful photograph of illuminating redorange lanterns for the Chinese New Year, The photographerauthor writes: “During Chinese New Year, half of Beijings population return to their home provinces, leaving the locals to turn the empty streets into a fireworks war zone” p.
.  This visual feast for the eyes continues as the author takes us on a tour ofregions provinces from the North, East, South, Central, and West,

This lovely collection of photography is a great overview of China and her people, The short historical notes and author commentary help set the cultural mood, Verbal and Visual Images by an Ambassador of Good Will: Tom Carter

Rarely does a book of richly colored photographic images of a country and the people that inhabit that country on every page reveal so much of a culture that the book becomes an instant resource for fascinated travelers real and armchair, students, teachers, and readers who care about the planet we call Earth.
CHINA: PORTRAIT OF A PEOPLE is indeed what the title suggests: within the covers of this book are more faces sampling the,billion people who inhabit theprovinces and thecultures of the vast country of China, faces that range from the new born to the elderly, the healthy to the suffering, the traditional culture bound with the new Westernized modern look, all placed within the context of the land and the life differences in one fascinatingly diverse country.


Tom Carter almost unintentionally created this brilliant book, His goal was to spend two years traveling across China, lingering long enough in each of the varied provinces to learn the customs, the people's way of life, the history that varies so greatly among the provinces both ancient and recent meaning within the last century, and capture the land and the people who dwell there with his camera.
A young politician by training, Carter had already made a similar journey through Mexico, Central America and Cuba: this idea of earnest sociological, journalistic and humanitarian investigations was in place.
Inhe traveled to the People's Republic of China as an English language teacher in Central China and in two year's time he resolved to learn more about the people who inhabit this divers and historically rich land: inhe began his trek by every possible means of transportation traveling through every province, staying is many cities, soaking up the realities of life there that too often are obscured from tourists, committed to learning all he could, incorporating the splendors of the vistas from the Gobi Desert to the highest mountains of Tibet to the lush mountains and rivers and the seas and oceans that brush China's borders and capturing it all on film!

Few of us realize how disparate are the various provinces of this great country.
Carter shows us these variations of religions Buddhism, Muslim, and variations within these, and more, farming, apparel, ritual, celebrations, animals, connections to the earth, the influence of the mass changes of Westernization on the beauty of the historically significant architecture, the lay of the land in the way it supports and in certain cases dooms its people, the forms of sport and entertainment, compassion and revolt, and the response of the people to the presence of an 'outsider'.
Carter's photographic images

were taken with Olympus Camedia Ccamera: more color saturation could not be possible than in the images we see here,

Another major aspect of this book is the presence on most pages of a few words by the author that so simply define the meaning behind each of the provinces and the people he has captured on film.
Each section on each of theprovinces begins with a succinct description about the historical significance and the unique aspects of that province, At times there are bits of poetic moments shared, and at time the words of someone he met are shared, In all, then, this as complex a diary of a country as any book presented about he vast country that is China, an ancient and yet also very modern neighbor.
Reading and absorbing this book will provide the reader with a true sense of the cultural riches of China: more important, the reader will feel an affinity for these people with whom we share life on the planet.
Highly recommended to all readers,

Grady Harp Tom Carter's visual journey through China allows us to vicariously drink in an immensely diverse culture, The unexpected can be found on almost any page prostitution in macau, punk hair in Changsha, a beautiful baby in Gongtan, and the mentally ill in Luoyang, I learned a lot about China by looking at it's pages, the presence of Islam, street corner dentists pulling teeth, and other surprises, Normally I would call this a spoiler but there are just so many surprises in this book that I'm barely scratching the surface, There are also plenty of images you would expect: Tibetan monks, Chinese junks, and elderly weather beaten faces, This book is immense and though it is mostly photos, it takes a while to look at allpages of people, villages, cities, I hardly have the vocabulary to describe the range and contrast of subject matter in this book varied, diverse, encyclopedic, these words don't do it justice, With such a breadth of topics spanning the most populous country, there isn't much room for depth, Each region has a brief introduction and map, each photo has a short caption, But the book is a great leaping off place for anyone who wants to start learning about China through a visual smorgasbord,

The images of people are competently captured in a mostly street documentary style, Carter gets close to his subject, and sometimes their poses are obvious reactions to being photographed, other times they seem oblivious to being recorded, Sometimes the photographer gets up high to give us a birdseye view of an area of village, Other times he gets in close to his subjects to tell their story,

Having made it through this enormous tome, I find myself picking it up repeatedly and thumbing through it, I keep finding images that I want to look at again, and there are so many that even memorable photos seem like I'm looking at them for the first time.
What I like about this book is how it never seems to end, Apparently there are oversnapshots, and despite being ordered by province and city, you really can just flip through any page at leisure, go backward or foreword, which I suppose is how the author conducted his trip across China.
Based on the thumbnail image of the CHINA's cover, even with the hot woman and the tasteful design, and knowing only it was some kind of photographic spread on China, I feared "coffee table book" or worse, cheesy Chinese variety that would actually mar my coffee table, the sort you can find in the tourist bookshops with washedout reproductions, incoherent English and sappy token displays of ethnic minorities dancing in their costumes.


The actual book, once in my hands, is unlike any other book I've seen, including those in the photojournalism genre, It has a surprisingly small trim size of onlyxinches, but atpages and overinches thick and weighing almostpounds, it's not a small book and probably better suited to hardcover than its fragile paper binding.
The weight is legitimated on the inside with the highquality paper stock and what I'd guess approaches,highresolution photo reproductions, capturing the author's two years of traveling to every province of China frequently under spartan and the roughest of conditions.
Each province is prefaced with a map and a concisely written pitch, along with beautifully succinct, haikulike captions for many of the photos, demonstrating that the author's skills as a photographer are matched by appropriate writing talent.
The descriptions and the variety of photographic subjects rural and urban landscapes, ordinary daily objects transfigured by the camera, and lots and lots of unforgettable people seem to form a narrative that pulls one along the lengthy book, though most readers will probably prefer to dip into it at random than go through the whole thing at one shot.
Regardless, it fulfills its evident purpose in being a comprehensive and enticing introduction to the country for people who haven't been to China, and equally interesting as well for those conversant with the country I myself have lived in China foryears.


Now for a more critical angle, The gold standard of "intrepid" or "hardcore" photojournalism books and one that will probably never be equaled is surely American Pictures: A Personal Journey Through the American Underclass by the Dane Jacob Holdt.
Holdt arrived in the US inwithin his pocket and spent the nextyears hitchhiking over,miles throughstates and living withfamilies, taking,photos selling his blood to buy film and culling them down toin his book, which are balanced by a substantial and moving narrative of his encounters with the many people he met, delving into their lives with a shocking empathy and intimacy often sleeping with both women and men to dialogue at the deepest human level, and unflinchingly capturing with his lens the most horrific but sympathetic images of poverty and decrepitude.


Personally, I would like to see the Chinese equivalent of Holdt's book, I suspect Tom Carter may even have witnessed some such darker scenarios or ruder encounters with people and made an understandable strategic decision not to include them, inasmuch as he seems to be positioning his book at the more "polite" end of the photojournalism spectrum, calibrated not to ruffle any feathers in China, where only the positive side of things tends to be presented.
Thus he does not refer to himself in the first person but adopts the "objective" reportorial "the author," and when he almost dies during extreme weather on the,meter DrolmaLa pass if it weren't for "a Ngari pilgrim woman" who "appeared as my own private Tibetan goddess of mercy, literally carrying me the remainder of the spiritual circuit," that's all we're told.
I want more I want to hear the dark side of travel and see the underbelly of the country, not just the pictureperfect promotional product, The author is certainly qualified to do this, and I invite him to consider these possibilities for another project, .