Saturday, April 10, 2010

Old School China Photos

I just stumbled across some seriously cool photos a traveler took in China in 1983 (h/t to Josh at farwestchina.com's Twitter account for the link). There are great photos from across the country in this album. It almost goes without saying in China where things change so fast, but these thirty year-old photos look like they were taken eons ago.

Here are some of the best ones from the Xi'an section:











I strongly suggest going over to Mr. Demery's entire collection of China photos. Really neat stuff.

6 comments:

Ramesh said...

Wow. China of 30 years ago is fascinating to see. Unfortunately the stupid Net nanny prevents a full enjoyment of the collection.

Btw Mark - resume your account of "the cities you my have never heard of " series. When you have the time, that is. Its wonderful to read your take on those cities.

SteveInChina said...

The first photo could have been taken recently... you can still get a roadside haircut outside Xi'an's south wall.

Anonymous said...

Mark,
I always love these old pictures of China.
You also can see these photos on Flickr, too.
Anqi Parkville,Missouri

SONNET said...

My son is currently living in China. He is teaching at a University there. He has been traveling to China for over 10 years now. He speaks Mandrin very well. I went there to visit him last JULY. It was his world before, but my interest has been peaked now. I found your blog and I think it is FANTASTIC. Shallotte, N.C.

Mark said...

@SONNET - Thank you so much for your kind words.

Taylor O said...

Check out Albert Kahn's pictures from the early 1900's (there are some from all over the world including China).

The autochromes are some of the first color pictures. I've always been fascinated with how real they can make history feel. I found a high res color photo of WWII plane builders that made it feel like yesterday.

http://gizmodo.com/5531880/history-as-youve-never-seen-it-beforein-true-color

http://www.albertkahn.co.uk/index.html