[Leica] Hong Kong & Shanghai

[hjwulff at gmail.com (Henning Wulff)]

Great to see these pictures, Jayanand.

It's been nine years since we were in Shanghai, and the difference is 
astounding. The tallest building at that time hardly makes an impression now.

Some of the older parts, like the French Concession, are at least as 
interesting

A nice series.

Henning



On 2014-10-23, at 9:46 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com> wrote:

> Neela & I have just returned from our maiden trip to China, which kicked
> off in Hong Kong and ended in Beijing, following the tourist trail about
> which a friend of mine, who travels often on business across the length and
> breadth of China, calls "Showcase China". In many ways I found China
> fascinating, and full of contradictions. The infrastructure is amazing, but
> quite a bit seems wasteful - Chongqing, for example seems to have a modern
> suspension bridge across the Yangtze every kilometre or two, and all the
> cities I visited had many unoccupied completed residential skyscrapers, and
> plenty of half finished ones where no work was apparently going on. The
> cities are spotlessly clean, but the air pollution has to be seen to be
> believed - we did not see the moon and stars during the whole trip save for
> the first night in Shanghai. Amazingly, there are no birds or even insects
> visible in the cities at all -  dead from the air pollution, I suppose. In
> fact, I just saw two wild birds on the whole trip - which included four
> nights on a boat on the Yangtze! Again, the way the historical sites are
> preserved and protected, and the same time designed to be tourist friendly,
> in places like Xi'an and Beijing, is just very well done. Local guides
> spoke surprisingly frankly to us about the pros and cons of life there, and
> gave valuable glimpses of personal history to emphasize the points made,
> and were not scared of criticizing Mao, the wasteful infrastructure
> spending or laws like the "One Child Policy" either. Most were college
> graduates who had majored in "Tourism English"!
> 
> Anyway, here are some pictures from Hong Kong and Shanghai. All photographs
> with the Fuji X100S or Fuji XE-1 with either the 35mmf1.4 or the 56mm f1.2
> lens mounted:
> 
> *Hong Kong*
> 
> Occupy Central - the few days we were there, the students seem to have gone
> home - the protests restarted the day after we left:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141008-034.jpg.html
> 
> Bird Garden:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141008-079.jpg.html
> 
> Conversation:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141008-572.jpg.html
> 
> Shopkeeper:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141009-626.jpg.html
> 
> *Shanghai*
> 
> Pudong (Grain deliberate) a three vertical frame panorama:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141010-190.jpg.html
> 
> The Bund at Night:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141010-165.jpg.html
> 
> The Bund in Sunlight:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-716.jpg.html
> 
> Cigarette Break:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-718.jpg.html
> 
> Smartphones:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-721.jpg.html
> 
> Selfies:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-743.jpg.html
> 
> Eye Contact:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-875.jpg.html
> 
> Pei Pei:
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141011-797.jpg.html
> 
> Please see LARGE
> 
> Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome
> 
> Cheers
> Jayanand
> 
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Henning Wulff
hjwulff at gmail.com