Florian Bachmeier – A Travel Diary of China

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ONE PHOTO – ONE STORY

19.05.2017

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“One of the most important pictures I took in China is the portrait of a farmer from a mountain village near Zhangjiajie in north-western China. I absolutely wanted to get to know the landscape and its inhabitants, and Mr Chen was the first person I encountered in the beautiful mountain valley of Sanyiaping.

The setting there is much like one imagines rural China: hills with rice fields in between, small paths and bridges. Together with his wife, Mr. Chen lives in a wooden house that is over 200 years old, located on top of a hill. He’s like a guard: every person following the path to Sanyiaping has to pass by his house.

He told me about life in the mountains, about the rice harvest, about his tangerine tree, and about the imminent New Year’s festivities. He himself would be unable to contribute anything to this year’s event, as he didn’t have enough money for the pig that is traditionally slaughtered at that time. Mr Chen only receives a small pension, and his children life in Shanghai and Guangzhou. They don’t find time to look after the old man and his bed-ridden wife. China’s boom towns seem light years away.”

You will find more pictures from Florian Bachmeier’s A Travel Diary of China in LFI 4/2017