Thursday’s Picture of the Week: Muli, China

Posted on November 8, 2021

Behind the Scenes: The year is 1990 and Jeffrey Aaronson is photographing on assignment for the National Geographic Society in one of the most remote areas in the world: Muli, China.

The book project, entitled, Beyond the Horizon: Adventures in Faraway Lands, has Jeffrey retracing the footsteps of Austrian-American botanist and explorer, Joseph Rock, who ventured to this region of China and Tibet in the early 1920′s.

Until 1953, Muli was a remote and independent mountainous Gelugpa Buddhist kingdom, located just north of Lake Lugu in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. It was dubbed “The Yellow Lama’s Kingdom” by Rock.

Jeffrey and writer, Patrick Booz, travel together on this epic, 30-day assignment for the Geographic. It takes four days to journey by jeep from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, on roads that

Since then only a handful of botanists, mountaineers and adventurers have trickled in to this are

Thursday’s Picture of the Week: Hong Kong Handover

Posted on June 28, 2012

Behind the scenes: It’s late June 1997 and Hong Kong is about to be handed back to China after 150 years of British rule. Jeffrey Aaronson has been hired by Time magazine to document the events leading up to the handover ceremony, which is taking place at midnight on June 30^th.

He has spent the past two weeks photographing all across China with one of Time’s senior correspondents, Joanna McCreary. They’ve ventured to several of China’s outlying cities, showing that while Communist leaders proclaim there will be “One country, Two Systems” with the Hong Kong handover, China is already comprised of a tangle of systems and economic policies created by local municipalities.

This is a memorable assignment for many reasons. One is that it’s an historic event. The other is that Jeffrey is arrested in the city of Suzhou. His visa has expired and the police have discovered he’s been working on a tourist visa instead of an official journalist visa. He’s always done that to avoid being controlled by government minders.

Locked in a jail cell, Jeffrey tries to ignore the sense of dread washing over him. A grizzly policeman glares with distain, then says between long drags on his cigarette, “You have until midnight to leave China. You’d better be on a plane out of here or….”

Once he’s released Jeffrey immediately begins trying to figure out his next move. He discovers there’s only one flight left to Hong Kong (which is still British for another week), but it’s out of Shanghai, which is least two hours away–on a good traffic day. He has less than three hours and he still must go back to his hotel and pack, then get to the airport, buy his ticket and board the plane.

After phoning the correspondent to tell her what has transpired, he’s in a car on the way to Shanghai. His plan is to fly to Hong Kong and apply for a new tourist visa—knowing China is still not computerized and not likely to discover his recent incarceration. Then he’ll fly into Beijing the next day and meet back up with the correspondent.

After a heart-racing drive and an absurd made-for-TV-sprint through the airport, Jeffrey catches his flight just as they are closing the door.

The next day, after working with Mr. Kwok, his seedy connection in Hong Kong, he obtains a new visa and lands back in Beijing.

The correspondent, who is well-aware of what Jeffrey has just been through, recommends he rests and lays low, especially since she won’t be writing anything about Beijing.

Jeffrey, who has never been good at laying low, ignores Joanna’s advice and heads out to photograph anyway. In Tiananmen Square he happens upon a group of school children doing chalk drawings in celebration of the upcoming handover. A large “countdown clock” is ticking down the hours and minutes until the handover, which the mainland is exuberant about.

When he photographs these two schoolboys sporting 1997 glasses, he’s glad he followed his instincts instead of laying low. He knows he has just created an iconic image for their story. And he’s right. It becomes the cover of the magazine.

__________

A week later a similar situation happens. It’s the night of the handover ceremony and Jeffrey has been shooting all over Hong Kong, along with a small contingent of photographers working for Time. Each is assigned a dizzying number of symbolic events as the British say farewell.

Jeffrey is on a tight schedule trying to get from one event to the next. It’s the first assignment his editor has given him a cell phone to help with communication and logistics during this tricky project. It’s the size of a brick, but it’s indispensable.

He has spent much of the day with the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patton, and is now on his way to photograph the Britannia symbolically sailing out of Hong Kong Harbor.

The streets are filled with drunk Expats as they try to forget about their future and their certain loss of British freedoms. On the way from one event to the next Jeffrey sees the first ceremonial Chinese soldier standing guard where a British soldier once stood.

It’s dripping hot and humid, and the crowd is growing more and more unruly, taunting the soldier. Jeffrey knows he’s late for his next event, and a call from his editor reinforces that. “Your car and driver are waiting for you. Please get over there now.”

“Give me ten minutes, “ he says to his editor, convincing her that what he’s witnessing could make for a symbolic photograph. While she has the driver circle, he creates another cover of Time, which runs the week after his previous cover.

“It’s often unplanned moments that make for some of the most interesting and important photographs. Sometimes you just have to follow your intuition, even if it means ignoring your editor,” Jeffrey later reflects.

Remembering June 4th

Posted on June 4, 2012

Today the Shanghai Stock Exchange fell 64.89 points. This may not seem like dramatic news to most people, but for anybody who remembers June 4, 1989 (6489), this brings chills.

June 4^th is the day the Tiananmen Square Massacre took place 23 years ago in Beijing, China; when the Chinese government ordered the People’s Liberation Army to fire upon thousands of unarmed civilians who were peacefully demonstrating during the Democracy Movement.

The Chinese Communist Party has never released a death toll from the crackdown, but estimates range from several hundred to several thousand by witnesses and human rights groups.

June 4th is an extremely sensitive topic in China, and is also one of the most censored. You won’t find mention of it anywhere in Chinese history books. In fact, most people born after 1989 don’t even know it happened.

You can imagine the nervousness of the Communist Party today when the stock exchange closed 64.89 points lower, reminding everyone once again of a date it has been trying to erase from history for the past 23 years. Even more spooky is that the Shanghai Composite Index opened at 2,346.98—as in “Let’s not forget 23 years ago, on 4 June,’89 (only the year’s digits are switched).

It made the Politiburo so paranoid, in fact, that it blocked microbloggers on China’s most popular version of Twitter, censoring anything related to June 4th. Messages containing words like stock exchange, 23, 6/4, remember, tanks, and never forget were blocked.

The Chinese have always been superstitious about numbers. Just flash back to the Beijing Olympics, held on 8/8/08 starting at 8:08 because the number 8 is considered lucky. Some say today’s symbolic ticker numbers were brought on by the Karmic gods. Others speculate the stock exchange was hacked by clever activists. Whatever the case, clearly it was meant for all the world to remember what happened in Tiananmen Square twenty-three years ago and to honor the innocent victims.

As you may remember, my husband, Jeffrey Aaronson, was in the middle of the Democracy Movement when it unfolded in Tiananmen Square. If you missed my post about it and are interested in reading it, you can click on the link below:

My Crash Course in Living Through the Lens

In honor or remembering Tiananmen, I’m also posting a small excerpt from my book in progress, The Art of an Improbable Life: My Twenty Years with an International Photojournalist.

Chapter Ten

Tiananmen’s Shadow
Beijing, China
2000-01

As Zhang Xianling cradles her son’s motorcycle helmet, remembering the last time she saw him alive, tears begin to pool in the corner of her eyes, betraying the iron fortitude she normally wears.

“The bullet entered Wang Nan’s head above his left eye,” Zhang begins as she looks up at Jeffrey, “and exited behind his ear, penetrating the motorcycle helmet he was wearing.”

Jeffrey winces, then feels his stomach tighten as if he’s just been kicked in the gut. Though he’s witnessed much agony in the world as a photojournalist, he’s never hardened to it.

“Nan was a junior in high school,” Zhang continues. “He had gone out to take pictures the night of June 3^rd. He was passionate about photography and wanted to capture history.”

Then she stops and closes her eyes. After inhaling a sonorous breath of calm and courage, she continues, “The instant his flash went off, a soldier aimed his gun and shot him through the head.”

The sorrow draped across Zhang Xianling’s face reinforces why Jeffrey has risked so much to be here: This mother’s story deserves to be told. And so do all the others.

Eleven years earlier Jeffrey had been in Tiananmen Square photographing China’s Democracy Movement, capturing the exuberance of students and workers peacefully demonstrating, hoping to bring change to their country. He documented a million people marching with banners and flags, protesters carrying anti-corruption placards and hunger strikers facing off with a government they believed was no longer listening to their demands for a more open society.

Jeffrey had spent an entire month in Beijing that hot spring of 1989, but it wasn’t until now that he was finally able to reveal what had happened on the night of June 3^rd, and into the pre-dawn hours of June 4^th, when the Chinese government ordered the People’s Liberation Army to quash the Democracy Movement with resounding force. Hundreds, if not thousands, of unarmed Chinese civilians were killed by the PLA as soldiers randomly shot into the crowd fleeing Tiananmen Square and the surrounding areas.

This act, which quickly became known as the June 4th Massacre, or the Tiananmen Massacre, is something the Chinese government has tried to cover up ever since, and something the victim’s families have struggled with as they seek justice and accountability.

Jeffrey hopes his photo project will bring the June 4th Massacre to light again, to show the world what really happened. His story won’t involve graphic images of bodies mowed down by the PLA, but instead, iconic portraits of family members of the victims, and those casualties of the movement who survived, but whose lives have been shattered. Their testimony about the massacre will also accompany the photographs he is creating . . .

more…

Here’s to remembering June 4th and never forgetting those who have been silenced.

Thursday’s Picture of the Week: China

Posted on March 29, 2012

Behind the Scenes: The year is 1995 and Jeffrey is photographing on assignment for The New York Times Travel Section in Beijing, China. He’s there to do a story about Ritan (Temple of the Sun) Park.

This expansive park is one of the oldest sites in Beijing and is like an oasis in the midst of a teeming metropolis. Commissioned by Ming Dynasty emperor JiaJing in 1530, it is filled not only with massive trees, gardens, pavilions, and small lakes, but many places for people to gather and recreate. Tai chi and ballroom dancing are common forms of exercise found here.

When Jeffrey comes upon this elderly gentleman wearing a traditional Mao jacket, fully immersed in the solitude of his early morning ritual, he knows he has captured the essence of Ritan Park and also created a wonderful symbol of ancient China–still alive and well in modern day Beijing.

At its core, tai chi is a martial art (also referred to as shadow boxing), but it is now commonly practiced to strengthen and promote mind/body health. Jeffrey loved how the man was entranced in the shadow of his own dance, and how the traditional Chinese red wall and green tiles melded with the shadow and gesture, creating pure harmony.

This image was created with a Nikon F4, a Nikkor 85mm lens and Fuji Velvia film.

Postscript: A week after it was published as the cover of The New York Times Travel Section, Broadway’s legendary song and dance man, Tommy Tune, wrote a letter to the editor extolling the artistic merits of Jeffrey’s photograph and how he captured the magic of the moment.

“It was quite an honor coming from Tommy Tune, whom I admire for his artistry and accomplishments in the field of dance,” said Jeffrey. “The fact that he would take the time to write a letter to the editor…there really is no higher compliment.”

Gong Xi Fa Cai — Happy Chinese New Year!

Posted on January 23, 2012

Today kicks off the year 4710 in China, and it’s cause for much celebration and optimism. It’s the Year of the Dragon, after all, the most auspicious and powerful of the twelve signs in the Chinese zodiac.

Where did the “Year of a particular animal” idea originate? I wondered that myself. Legend has it that in ancient times, Buddha asked all the animals to meet him on Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one. He announced that the people born in each animal’s year would have some of that animal’s personality.

In Eastern philosophy, the dragon is regarded as a divine beast – the opposite of the malicious monster that Westerners have felt necessary to find and slay. It is said to be a deliverer of good fortune and a master of authority.

Those born in dragon years are innovative, brave, and driven. They’re unafraid of challenges, willing to take risks and passionate about all they do. They are free spirits. Think of John Lennon, Joan of Arc, Mae West, and Salvador Dali.

A baby boom is expected in China this year as many couples believe it is lucky to have a child born during The Year of the Dragon.

Economic forecasts are also strong as new ventures are expected to benefit from the outstanding luck of the dragon.

_____________________________________

Chinese traditions are so rich that I thought it would be fun to share a few more tidbits I’ve learned about this holiday–both from Jeffrey who has been to China well over sixty times, and from research.

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festival in Chinese culture, lasting fifteen days. It’s celebrated on the new moon of the first month according to the lunar calendar, and is a time for family reunions and massive feasts.

It is also a time when every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes of making way for good incoming luck.

At Chinese New Year celebrations people wear new red clothes, decorate with red paper, and give children “lucky money” in red envelopes. Red symbolizes fire, which according to legend can drive away bad luck.

The money given in the red envelopes must be in new bills, and the total amount must be an even number. Certain numbers are bad luck, so the total amount should not be one of these unlucky numbers. Four, for example, is a homonym for “death,” so a red envelope should never contain $4, $40, or $400. Children put their red envelopes under their pillows at night so they can have sweet dreams and become richer in the next year.

The fireworks that shower the festivities are rooted in a similar ancient custom. Long ago, people in China lit bamboo stalks, believing that the crackling flames would frighten evil spirits. Now at midnight on New Year’s Eve, fireworks and firecrackers light up the sky and greet the coming of the new year, driving away evil spirits.

The lantern festival, held on the fifteenth day of the Chinese New Year celebration, is considered the highlight by many. People hang lanterns in temples, and carry lanterns to an evening parade under the light of the full moon.

In many areas the centerpiece of the lantern festival is the dragon dance. The dragon—which might stretch a hundred feet long—is typically made of silk, paper, and bamboo. Traditionally the dragon is held aloft by young men who dance as they guide the colorful beast through the streets.

_____________________________

I’m always optimistic at the start of each new year. 2012 is no exception–especially now that I know the Dragon is leading the way.

Gong Xi Fa Cai - Happy New Year!

sources: infoplease.com, about.com, chinesezodiac.com, chiff.com, wikipedia.com

Photos of America from Another Perspective

Posted on January 10, 2012

I don’t need to tell you smart readers what globalization looks like, but clearly it can be amusing at times to see what parts of American culture get transplanted into other countries around the world (at least when it isn’t sad).

Here is a peek at a few images Jeffrey has created over the years showing what happens when American taste lands in other parts of the world.

Lhasa, Tibet (selling yak burgers on the roof of the world).

Beijing, China

Tokyo, Japan

Beijing, China

Moscow, Russia

Saigon, Vietnam

Shanghai, China

If you had one wish, what aspect of American culture would you want to share most around the world (if any)? My guess is that it wouldn’t be the Marlboro Man.

Thursday’s Picture of the Week: China

Posted on November 9, 2011

Behind the scenes: It’s 1981 and Jeffrey is photographing in Beijing, China. On this day he’s intent on capturing the beauty of the Summer Palace, the former warm-weather residence of China’s imperial rulers.

As Jeffrey crosses a narrow covered walkway, intricately carved and painted with imperial scenes, he notices an elderly gentleman sitting on one of the wooden railings. The man, who seems content to do little more than take in the day’s events around him, is dressed in a Mao jacket and a traditional cap. He is also wearing some of the most exquisite glasses Jeffrey has ever seen.

The spectacles rest slightly askew on the man’s nose. The etched hand-tooled silver that frames the circular glass is worn to a salient patina; the crack in the upper left-hand lens holds a story from long ago.

Jeffrey cannot take his eyes off the man whose face perfectly symbolizes traditional China. When the man glances up, Jeffrey asks—through his interpreter—if he would mind having his portrait taken. “Please be sure to tell him how much I admire his glasses,” Jeffrey adds.

The man’s eyes twinkle from beneath their narrow openings. Then his soft, gravely voice begins wrapping Jeffrey in staccato Mandarin, almost as if the man has been waiting his entire life to share this moment. Jeffrey, who has studied a little Chinese, can only understand part of what he is saying, and must wait patiently until his interpreter finally relays the story.

“He says that he is 84-years old and these glasses have been in his family for two generations. His father wore them most of his life, then when he died, they were passed on to him. He said he would be willing to sell them to you for ten dollars.”

Jeffrey is horrified by his offer, imagining all the things that have passed through these lenses. He takes a moment, then simply says to his interpreter,

“Tell him ‘thank you very much for your generous offer’, but I will pay him double if he promises to never sell these glasses; to always keep them in his family.”

The man squints his eyes in delight, then agrees. Finally Jeffrey creates his portrait. A few years later it becomes the cover of Vis a Vis, United Airlines’ inflight magazine, when they publish a 10-page portfolio featuring Jeffrey’s China photographs.

This photograph was created with a Nikon FE camera, a Nikon 85mm lens and Kodachrome 64 film.

PS: The answer to Tuesday’s challenge is Tibet (November 8th post). You’ll have to wait to hear Jeffrey’s stories to fully appreciate his reasons.

My Crash Course in Living Through the Lens

Posted on October 25, 2011

JUNE 1989: Jeffrey and I have been together for less than six months. During this time I’ve been given an unexpected crash course in the frenetic lifestyle of a photojournalist, learning quickly what it’s like to live through the lens.

You may remember that 1989 is the year seismic political events begin shaking governments and cultures all around the world.

In April Jeffrey navigates Rangoon’s tension-filled streets during martial law, and photographs Burma’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, when she’s first placed under house arrest. This project is a good indicator of what is to come in this life that Jeffrey and I are now happily sharing (if you missed this story, you can read the details in my two earlier posts):

9/27/11 Beyond Rangoon–Part One

10/4/11 Beyond Rangoon–Part Two

Soon after Burma, in May and early June, Jeffrey spends multiple weeks in Beijing documenting China’s Democracy Movement in Tiananmen Square, capturing the passion and energy of China’s youth and its demands for change.

It’s an exhilarating and surreal time for me as I watch the evening news every night to see what is unfolding in Tiananmen Square, knowing Jeffrey is there at the front line of history.

I see hunger strikers and workers marching with outrageously bold placards, then witness the “Goddess of Democracy” being erected as a symbol of hope and freedom for the movement. With each new development, threats escalate from the Chinese government. Soon fiery warnings are blasted about the severe consequences protesters will face if they do not end the demonstration and leave the square.

Jeffrey is in a simmering pot of politics, power and impatience, and my jaw grows tighter each day knowing that it’s getting closer to bubbling over–especially in a country in which freedom has never been a priority and brutality has often been a solution. At that moment, the Democracy Movement is no longer just a surreal event half way around the world for me; it is palpably real.

It’s then I realize I need to focus on my “own thing” while Jeffrey is gone, otherwise my twenty-three year old dark brown hair will soon be turning white. While Jeffrey is in Tiananmen Square, I spend hours out on the road cycling, distracting myself with Aspen’s intoxicating landscape, centering my attention on simply turning the cranks of my pedals and getting enough oxygen into my lungs, rather than worrying about whether the Chinese government will follow through with its threats. I also immerse myself in work and all the other things I love like reading, painting and writing. I still stay glued to the TV and scour every newspaper, but I realize I have no control over Jeffrey’s safety so I trust in his scrappy ability to navigate through upheaval and create images, while staying out of harm’s way.

I also can’t help but feel empathy for Jeffrey’s parents. Right before Jeffrey leaves for Beijing, I overhear one of the most endearing phone conversations I can ever remember. “You can’t forbid me to go,” Jeffrey says to his dad as gently as he can, a sweet, appreciative smile crossing his face. “You’ll just have to trust that I’ll be okay. Really. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine,” he says as tries to ease the concerns he hears on the other end of the line.

His dad’s fear says everything about the love his parents hold for Jeffrey, and immediately makes me understand who Jeffrey is from the ground up.

That same trepidation also makes me think about all the other journalists in the world, and all the spouses, families and friends in the wings supporting what each is doing…and most likely worrying–particularly those going into war zones. I’m thankful Jeffrey has not chosen that path.

Tiananmen Square is bad enough.

After nearly six weeks of peaceful demonstrations, the worst happens: China’s Democracy Movement tragically ends in bloodshed. On June 4th, the Chinese government orders the People’s Liberation Army to quash the movement and end all challenges to its power. Thousands of unarmed people are murdered, mowed down by bullets and tanks, and many more are injured as the PLA clears the square.

Thankfully, Jeffrey is not one of them.

In a later post I will share the story of how, in an unusual twist of circumstances, Jeffrey sidesteps the June 4th massacre. I’m a firm believer that most things in life happen for a reason. This is no exception.

Jeffrey’s Most Published China Photograph THEN…An Improbable Award NOW

Posted on September 13, 2011

THEN: GUESS WHICH CHINA PICTURE IS JEFFREY’S MOST PUBLISHED?

1978-2011: Jeffrey began working in China in the late 1970′s soon after he bought his first Nikon FE camera. By now, it probably won’t surprise you that it was an improbable moment that launched him on this first trip to the Middle Kingdom (a story which I will share with you at a later time).

Over the course of three decades and 66 trips, Jeffrey photographed everything from bound feet and Mao jackets to discos and the Democracy Movement to peasants and minorities in remote regions (like this little Bai girl on the right) to China’s massive economic explosion.

Just for fun, this week I thought I’d try something new..take a look at the eight images below and guess which is Jeffrey’s most published photograph of China?

Leave your guess in the comment section of THIS POST and later in the week you will hear the answer, along with the improbable story of how he created this image.

A) A farmer tends his rice paddies in Sichuan Province

B) Backstage at the Shanghai Opera

C) A Chinese traditional medicine treatment called moxibustion

D) The Democracy Movement in Tiananmen Square

E) Ballerinas at the Ballet Wu School in Shanghai

F) A monk preparing tea at a remote monastery in Yunnan Province

G) Ronald McDonald getting the cold shoulder in Beijing

H) A young boy dressed as a Little Emperor in Beijing’s Forbidden City

A hint for you: As Confucius once said, “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”

NOW: AN IMPROBABLE AWARD

SEPTEMBER 2011: By now it is more than apparent that my life has been a series of improbable moments. Well, here’s another one to add to the mix.

My blog has been up and running for a total of 14 days and it has just been honored with a Liebster Blog Award! Did I mention improbable?

Liebster means “friend” or “beloved” in German, and this honor is meant to bring recognition to quality bloggers who have a following of less than 200 people.

Stunned would be the best word to describe my reaction to this award. Grateful, humbled, appreciative, and giddy are other words.

Thank you to Samantha Stacia and Nancy MacMillan, two of my fellow bloggers, for nominating me for this award. It means a lot. Samantha writes The Blooming Late Journal and Nancy writes Blog of a Vet’s Wife.

As part of this award, the recipient is asked to pay it forward by nominating five other bloggers for this honor. Below are my nominations for the next Liebster Blog Award. I’m not sure how many followers each has, but their blogs are worth checking out:

Traci Green at Author Exposure

Stephey Baker at Marked by the Muse

Two hip chicks at LOVEMikana

Lori Robinson at Africa Inside

Drea McClarty at Two Motivate

Thanks again to Nancy and Samantha for their nominations…and happy reading to the rest of you.

The Art of an Improbable Life

My Twenty Years with an International Photojournalist…Then and Now

Tag Archives: China

Thursday’s Picture of the Week: Muli, China

Thursday’s Picture of the Week: Hong Kong Handover

Remembering June 4th

Chapter Ten

Tiananmen’s Shadow
Beijing, China
2000-01

Thursday’s Picture of the Week: China

Gong Xi Fa Cai — Happy Chinese New Year!

Photos of America from Another Perspective

Thursday’s Picture of the Week: China

My Crash Course in Living Through the Lens

Jeffrey’s Most Published China Photograph THEN…An Improbable Award NOW

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Chapter Ten

Tiananmen’s Shadow Beijing, China 2000-01

Tiananmen’s Shadow
Beijing, China
2000-01