With increasing modernization and consequently, demolition of traditional China, Howard French documents his experience on an old, dilapidated street in Shanghai that may be materially poor, but teeming with cultural flavor and life. His photos reveal a Shanghai that is far from the common, glitzy images of the city presented to tourists and in the media, and yet are deeper, and perhaps more true to China. From the New York Times:
I can still perfectly recall those moments, a handful of times late in my first year here in Shanghai, when the late afternoon light was at its limpid best and the very special beauty of this city seemed distilled for me in all its clarity.
There was the scene around a blackened wok in which thick sections of river fish had been freshly deposited in dancing, golden oil, drawing a hungry and animated crowd that was more interested in focusing on matters at hand than in locking in on the foreigner with the big, old-fashioned camera who was busily taking their pictures. [Full text]
