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The average traveler heading to the West of China packs his bags, roughs it, takes a few poignant photos of the scenery, the people, and their traveling companions - and then emails a few shots off to their friends. If you're a legendary figure in China's real estate circle - with the money associated with businesses from Hainan to the Great Wall - you don't email your pics, you publish a book, give it to friends, and sell it to those curious enough to wonder how a millionaire spends his free time. Pan Shiyi's photographs portray a rather cold and bleak journey across the West of China, featuring schoolchildren, dorms, workers, and the elderly. Compass bearings, longitude and latitude, travel notes, and conversations litter this trip that took in travels from Mentougou County in Beijing to Tiziquan in Xinjiang, for pure adventure-seeking purposes. In his forward, Pan states his desire to taking physical activity out of the gym, and experiencing the exhilaration of traveling through China's countryside. Although the book is little more than a personal photo album, it does depict the difficult lives in China's undeveloped western interior, and a sense of the hospitality of the countryside's inhabitants. Go West 25, by Pan Shiyi, Y68 |
