Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/10/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>From: Gwpics@aol.com >Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1998 13:37:28 EDT >Subject: Re: [Leica] China visit > >I am visiting China (Beijing) in early November. Does anyone have any >experience re restrictions or otherwise on photography or Leica outlets etc. > >Thanks > >Gerry Gerry, I lived in Beijing for ten years (and still have an apartment there) and now live in Shanghai. I have worked all over China and would say that you have little to worry about so long as you are sensitive to your surroundings: by which I mean don't try to photograph black market currency traders at work or prostitutes and their pimps without their agreement. But then that is just common sense and not the sort of thing you are likely to be staring at most of the time! You will stand out a mile simply being a foreigner so the camera you use whether it is one or half a dozen makes little difference: your body language and manner make a lot more. If you try and sneak shots of things people might be ashamed of (like garbage collectors or public arguments, traffic accidents etc.) you can expect problems. OTOH I regularly take these and many other kinds of photographs here and get away with it: speaking Chinese make a big difference though as a foreigner you are generally forgiven a lot. As for buying camera equipment here it is possible though not advisable since this is a very poor country still. Most of the interesting stuff is not sold openly in stores but in a large underground network which exists primarily to avoid the immense import duties (approx 100% last time I checked). Having said that you can expect to pay 20% to 50% more than US prices for the items you find here. Film can be found at reasonable prices but it will waste a lot of your time to visit the few decent outlets for it in Beijing or Shanghai. There is one good store in Beijing called Huifeng Camera in ZuJiaJie which has a limited selection of Leica equipment (new). As for secondhand bargains: forget it. There is an army of collectors in China and outside who have bought up anything worth buying. For the most part the secondhand items you will find on sale here are broken - this goes for cameras, clocks, cars even porcelain. Again you need to be on the inside track to get anything good. Having said that I did once pick up an M5, 21/3.4 + VF (boxed LN), 35/1.4 and 50/1.2 Noctilux for US$1800 from a dealer but that was a one off! If you are interested in a new in box Rolleiflex 3.5F or a Chinese knock-off of M4 (HongQi or Red Flag) and are wiling to pay $1500 for the former and $9000 for the latter let me know... Hope this helps, Adrian Adrian Bradshaw Photojournalist Shanghai, China