April, 2008

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Zoriah: Deconstructing China

Deconstructing China 

In hopes of modernizing its society, both in preparation for the 2008 Olympic games and in anticipation of its booming population, China ramped up it campaigns to flatten entire neighborhoods and communities and replace them with modern retail spaces and mass dwellings. Families who had lived in their homes for generations found notices on their doors, giving them one week to pack their belongings.  Many of the families were moved into suburbs far away from their cities, their jobs and their neighbors, forced to live in massive apartment complexes instead of the homes the had grown up in.  Ancient paths winding through alleyways and around stunning brick homes were now littered with rubble and the occasional scavenger hunting for scrap metal and other usable items.  Architectural landmarks,  beauty and culture were almost instantly erased as the country rushed to an unknown future.  For the residents of these neighborhoods, life would never again be the same.

These images were taken in 2004 in Beijing and Shanghai

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Daniel Wilkinson: Sri Lankan Refugees in India

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Dith Pran

Dith Pran, with whom I worked at The New York Times, died on Sunday of pancreatic cancer. Although he was most famous for being the subject of the movie "The Killing Fields, I knew Pran as a very calm fatherly presence at The Times, a man who went about his work with an unflinching focus and care - and whom often chided me for eating more than one meal a day. Tom Huang has written a short remembrance to Pran here. The New York Times extensive obituary can be found here. They also have a multi-media presentation of his photographs, to which I've linked below.

Dithpran

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