Last January, I spent some time in southern Yunnan Province, including some time in the rice terraces of Yuanyang County. One of the picturesque regions of China that fills many stereotypes of the country, the rice terraces have long provided a living from the many ethnic minorities in mountains of the region. For obvious reasons, the area has been an attraction to tourists, but its remoteness has kept it relatively protected. Now investors and developers see an opportunity, especially as Yunnan province develops its transportation infrastructure.

The city of Kunming, capital of China's most culturally and ecologically diverse province, occupies a conflicted space in the rapidly urbanizing country. Pulled by the need to modernize and compete in the global marketplace and the need to maintain and protect its cultural legacy, the city finds itself at war with itself. Development is necessary to remain an economic powerhouse in the region, assuring continued prosperity for the future. But, as is seen elsewhere in China and the developed world, industrial and technological modernization is almost necessarily at odds with an agenda of protection for the environment. And while environmental concerns might fall to the push of modernization elsewhere, Yunnan's two largest economic drivers, tourism and agriculture, depend on a pristine environment. The government has erected China's first environmental police force in the region, in fact. Meanwhile, though, the city chugs along with construction and demolition, shopping and transportation. The city has come resemble most others in China in that respect, but there's an underlying awareness that the city's toll on the environment--those beautiful cloud-filled blue-sky days, the surrounding tree-covered hills and mountains, the water that runs through the city--must be addressed.

It's no wonder that Haerbin's Siberian Tiger Park is as well-known as it is. The park houses more than 100 of of the endangered Manchurian Tiger, also known as the Siberian Tiger, in a large grassland enclosure, and, most famously, allows visitors to ride in buses among the tigers and feed live chickens, cows, and other meat to the tigers. The park is partially funded by private donations and may serve a role in the preservation of the species, which numbers at less than 400 animals in the wild. One of the oddest features of the park is the visitors' center. Shops there sell toys, stuffed animals, hats, and other items made from tiger fur, and various displays provide information about the species' history. Additionally, one room is dominated by a large aquarium filled with wine and a whole tiger skeleton. The wine sells for 780 renminbi (about US$110.00) per half kilogram of liquid. People who drink the wine believe it is beneficial to one's health, increasing one's power, virility, and strength. The wine and other tiger products created from tigers at the park draw much criticism from animal rights activists and conservationists, and with good reason. While the park claims to preserve the species, little is apparently being done to rehabilitate the tigers, ready them for the wild, or, really, do anything other than entertain tourists and provide fodder for traditional Chinese medicine products and souvenir trinkets.
 
You can see more images available for licensing at my archive: Harbin Siberian Tiger Park

Over the weekend I had a quick shoot covering a local parkour team in Nanjing for Map Magazine. Parkour is a relatively new sport, growing in popularity, in which the participants, known as traceurs, repurpose the urban landscape so as to move between two points more efficiently or quickly. That's a boring description though; think fast-moving movie stuntman-style leaping, flipping, and balancing between buildings and over obstacles such as staircases, railings, or tree planters. The guys in TNT, Nanjing's main team, have been going strong since 2007 when they were introduced to the sport by a visiting foreigner. Now, the group numbers around 20, of varying skill levels.

2009 is the Year of the Ox and the crowds were busy celebrating in Nanjing earlier this week. As in the rest of China, the holiday's generally a family affair. While there are a few organized public gatherings, temple fairs and the like, the day is usually spent like Christmas in the West; lots of food and family. But, once evening rolls around the fireworks start popping, lanterns start going into the air, and temples fill with worshippers praying for a prosperous year ahead. In Jiming Temple, where some of the photos below were taken, a girl was overheard talking with a friend, "Wow! So many people!" Her companion responded, matter-of-factly, "What do you think it'd be like in an economic crisis?!"

Beijing was at the top of everyone's attention in late summer 2008, but the Olympics came and went and the city continues to hum along. Like many other places in China, growth is relatively unchecked, in spite of a faltering economy. The international business community has been looking toward Beijing for help as the world's markets collapse, and Beijing is often the first stop in China for major multinational brands. The luxury market is booming in the city, and unlike other cities in China there's a large population in Beijing capable of patronizing the fancy stores. But in order to accomodate this growth, the old hutongs have been bulldozed and people have been relocated to other, further out parts of the city. The signs of McDonalds and Louis Vitton glow just steps away from the lights festooning the roofpeaks of the Forbidden Palace and Tiananmen Square, ever the target of protestors and would-be terrorists, is a high-security DisneyLand of Chairman Mao propaganda. The city's subways are protected by the world's only complete and continuous public transportation bag check x-ray system and the demand for fast and plentiful automobile transportation has made bicycle and foot travel in the city difficult and dangerous. The city isn't done growing, of course. It probably won't be until the desert swallows it up.