China Remembered: A Rare Collection of Photographs from a Forgotten Time

Geography teacher and Japanese native Kitahara's first collection of photography--taken from 25 years worth of material originally intended to instruct his students--is a colorful blend of China's many ages. Over the years, Kitahara has witnessed the economic giant's transformation as it loosens its borders to the West. Major cities like Beijing, Kitahara says, are now in danger of losing their distinctive character. Yet vestiges of its Imperial empires, communist and cultural revolutions still abound. Some of the photography illustrates the stark changes between traditional and contemporary life--movie posters lit by lamps in Kunming, a Western arcade littered with McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Pepsi signs in Guangzhou--but the bulk of the book sets out to rediscover rural China, where roughly 70% of its 1.26 billion people still dwells. A mother-daughter team selling handmade hairbrushes on a street corner and an intimate shot of two man playing chess on a park bench showcase Kitahara's ability to find beauty in the ordinary rituals of life. His montages of local architecture and landscape are most remarkable, offering sweeping views of the Chinese countryside from all 27 provinces and close-ups of such majestic edifices as the former Imperial Palace in Beijing's Forbidden City. Along with his stunning and poignant photography, Kitahara reveals his penchant for pedagogy: the book is full of facts and histories and could double as an illuminating textbook.