China Then and Now

China has played an important part in my life since I began studying Chinese at UC Berkeley in 1962. I received my Ph.D. from UCLA in Chinese history, and I taught courses on Chinese history and culture for over thirty years at California State University, Dominguez Hills.

In Contemporary China you will find photos taken in 2006-2007. These were shot digitally as I visited several major cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Suzhou and Hangzhou).

In China in the Eighties there are photos taken during visits to China in 1985, 1988, and 1990. These images have been scanned from prints.

In China in 1974 there are photos taken during a three-week visit hosted by the All-China Women's Federation, as one of the earliest American groups to visit China. These photos have been scanned from slides.

Finally, as a graduate student on a Fulbright grant, I lived in Taiwan for one year from 1965-1966, studying Chinese and researching my Ph.D. dissertation. As I was preparing to leave, I photographed the people in my neighborhood (housewares store, coal seller, bike repair man), in the neighborhood market, and in Nangang, where the Academic Sinica is located. At that time Nangang was very rural, with hand carts carrying coal from a small nearby mine, water buffalo in the fields, and village kids who looked in horror at the "big nose" taking their photo. These too were scanned from prints.

All of the photos taken before 2000 are more of interest as historical documents rather than for their aesthetic qualities.