Xiaofangjia Hutong. Photographs by Xu Yong. China Photography Publishing House, 2003. Unpaged. Quarto. Stiff photo-illustrated wrappers. Color reproducitons.
Xu Yong’s work contrasts the historical with the contemporary. In this book he documents one of the old hutongs--ancient city alleys and lanes--of Beijing, taking his lens to the traditional small lanes of Beijing, where he photographed the peace before the storm – the Hutong before their final demolition. In this book, as he explains, "On August 18, 2002, I photographed over one hundred residents of Xiaofangjia Hutong as they freely formed different groups in a random manner. Each resident held a card with his/her name, date of birth and identification written on it. Two and a half months later, the Xiaofangjia Hutong and scores of hutongs in the vicinity disappeared from the map of Beijing."
Fine. |
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