CHINA: Portrait of a People [Paperback]

Tom Carter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 16, 2010

China counts 56 ethnic groups within its borders. The descendants of Manchu soldiers, Silk Road traders and Lao hill tribes have their own cuisines, languages, and customs. American photographer Tom Carter spent two years on the road in China. Traveling by the cheapest transport and sleeping in two-dollar guesthouses, he lived side by side with the ordinary but incredibly diverse people of the PRC. The images he collected break all stereotypes of the Chinese.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Capturing the diversity of [China's] 56 ethnic groups is a remarkable achievement ... There are a number of shots in this book that could easily grace the pages of National Geographic ... Unless you want to undertake your own two-year trek through some of the mainland's most difficult terrain to take your own shots, this is a study well worth having on your bookshelf. --South China Morning Post

In these 900 images, Carter shows just how diverse the Chinese really are, with their different facial features, skin hues, lifestyles, cultures and occupations. What ensues is an engaging and enlightening photo essay of 1.3 billion people. --Asian Geographic Passport

A striking, kaleidoscopic vision of China's lands and people. --The Beijinger

Through Carter's journey of self-discovery, we end up discovering a little more about ourselves -- and a land so vast, so disparate, that 638 pages of photos barely manage to scratch the surface. Still, CHINA: Portrait of a People is a very good place to start peeling back the layers. --Time Out Hong Kong

Travel photos taken by a stranger seldom fascinate. But 800 color images captured by Tom Carter as he spent two years on the road, traveling 56,000 kilometers through all of China's 33 provinces, make a dramatic exception ... Carter's weighty book takes an effort to carry home from a store. But anyone interested in China should love owning it. --Cairns Media Magazine

Getting a full picture of China - a vast country with an enormous population, a place that is experiencing sweeping cultural and economic changes - is, of course, impossible. But Tom Carter comes close. ... It's a remarkable book, compact yet bursting with images that display the diversity of a nation of 56 ethnic groups. --San Francisco Chronicle, September 26, 2010

In China: Portrait of a People, Tom Carter shows us that there are actually dozens of Chinas. The American photojournalist spent two years traveling 35,000 miles through every province of China by bus, boat, train, mule, motorcycle, and on foot. --Christian Science Monitor, August 27, 2010

Product Details

• Paperback: 638 pages
• Publisher: Blacksmith Books (July 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9889979942
• ISBN-13: 978-9889979942
• Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 6.2 x 2.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #405,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Travel photographer Tom Carter (1973) was born and raised in the City of San Francisco and graduated with a degree in Political Science from the American University in Washington, D.C. Following a political career with a number of high-profile state and national campaigns, Tom decided to "peek over the fence" and subsequently spent 18 months backpacking down the length of Mexico, Cuba and Central America. Tom later spent one year in Japan, one year in India, and four years in the People's Republic of China, travelling extensively throughout the country's 33 provinces and autonomous regions. The result was his first book, CHINA: Portrait of a People, hailed as the most comprehensive book of photography on modern China ever published by a single author.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Accurate, vivid, and touching!, July 12, 2010

By 

Z. Gorman (CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: CHINA: Portrait of a People (Paperback)

I am a Mainland Chinese who grew up during the 10 years of Cultural Revolution. At the end of my graduate study in 1986, I went on a hitch-hiking trip to Tibet with a friend of mine. We had 45 RMB Yuan, a camera, and 4 rolls of films with us. We spent a month on the road, riding in the back of coal-hauling trucks, on the make-shift engine cover in the front of old buses, in the back of tractors, climbing over hills, and riding on the back of horses. We slept in horse stables, tents, and sometimes, for 1.5 yuan a night, we got to sleep in a bed...

That was the highlight of my travel experience: 1 month, 4 provinces, and 100 photos.

Tom Carter has done this for 2 years across 33 provinces in China. When I looked at the photos in his book, my eyes were swelled with tears the whole time: His photos have so accurately and vividly captured the features and the characteristics of the people from this most diversed country in the world that I call my motherland! Without reading the captions, I can tell that that young man is from Guangxi, that girl is from Sichuan, and those folks are from Heilongjiang. I can hear them talk in their dialects. I can feel their hopes. I can touch their spirits... They have aroused my desire to talk with them and laugh with them again. They reminded me so much of everything I saw in my little excursion over twenty years ago. It was a journey down the memory lane but it is more. It tells me things that I have no experience of since I have been gone away for almost 20 years...

I have lived in the United states for many years. When I go to bookstores, I am naturally attracted to the sections where I can find books about China. I have not seen another book like this - so real and so recent, capturing all the changes that have happened in China in the last 20-30 years while at the same time showing the essence and heritage of the culture.

I hope more people will read this book.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These Pictures Capture the Heart and Souls of 1.3 Billion People, June 24, 2010

By 

Lloyd Lofthouse ", author of 'My Splendid Con... (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: CHINA: Portrait of a People (Paperback)

There are more than 1.3 billion people in China. Besides the majority Han Chinese, the population includes 56 ethnic groups numbering over one hundred million. Over the course of 2 years and 35,000 miles, photojournalist Tom Carter captured it ALL on film.

For their historical value alone, the 800+ photos in Portrait are priceless. I highly doubt if there will ever be another book about China like this one. Carter's anthropological-like study of China stands apart in its genre, as it focuses expressly on the PEOPLE of China. In addition to documenting the everyday life of "ordinary" people, Carter also backpacked to the most remote areas of China to observe reclusive ethnic minorities such as the red-turbaned Pai Yao minority of northern Guangdong and the resplendent Dong and Miao tribes of eastern Guizhou.

From Inner Mongolian nomads to newlyweds in Hong Kong, from the teenage girl living in Chengdu dressed like an American punk rocker to the soot covered coal miner in Southern Shanxi, Carter's camera documented the complexity and diversity of China like no other book ever has (or likely ever will). There is an old saying that a picture is equal to a thousand words. In CHINA: Portrait of a People, each picture is worth TEN thousand words, maybe more.

The consensus amongst backpackers is that China is probably the single most challenging country in the world to visit. As such, in order to reach certain locations, Carter had to travel on foot into some seriously rugged terrain. To get an idea what I'm talking about, consider that China, almost the size of the United States, uses only sixteen percent of its land for growing crops. The rest is either mountains or desert.

To take the up-close and personal pictures in CHINA: Portrait of a People, Carter also risked jail multiple times; was stranded in Tibet; faced exhaustion and hunger; was beaten by drunks; plagued by a nearly-fatal viral infection, and risked being shot by North Korean border guards. And that was only the first year!

If you plan to visit China, buy this book before you go. On the other hand, if you are an armchair tourist who never strays far from home, Carter's Portrait will not disappoint. The warmth of the Chinese comes cross in every image from cover to cover. You will laugh along with the Tibetan nomads seeing their photo for the very first time, and scratch your head at the eight-year-old acrobat student at Wuqiao bending herself like a folded sheet of paper.

Between the covers of Portrait, you will start a vicarious journey visiting China like few photographers have ever accomplished. With this thick, 600-page book, you too can travel on this 35,000 mile journey without ever leaving your home. Or better, it will inspire you to make a similar journey.

There is no way that this review can do justice for the monumental accomplishment that is CHINA: Portrait of a People. Seeing is believing.

Lloyd Lofthouse, author of "My Splendid Concubine"

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Accent is on The People, June 25, 2010

By 

Bruce Humes (Kunming, China) - See all my reviews

This review is from: CHINA: Portrait of a People (Paperback)

I've been living in the country for 20+ years, so it's no easy task to capture my attention--or hold it--with a "China" book. But somehow Carter has managed to do so.

Maybe it's the smiles: Warm, infectious, genuine. A positively ancient yet bubbly Beijing couple on the eve of their 55th wedding anniversary. The Yao woman whose front teeth checked out long ago. Or an adorable Uighur girl with a dainty, coffee-colored lace headdress.

Carter documents the astounding variety of the peoples of China, face by face, but he also does a good job of contrasting architecture in different regions. My favorites: The myriad flat rooftops of Tibet's second city, Shigatse; perfectly circular "tulou" communal houses of the Hakka in Fujian; and a sea of sloping roof tiles rippling over Lijiang, Yunnan, perhaps China's best-preserved traditional village.

Just one page of text precedes each of the 33 chapters introducing a municipality, province or autonomous region. Brief, to the point, but not formulaic. Zhejiang is encapsulated by an ancient poem, Qinghai via the words of a 10-year-old Tibetan girl who is worried that her family's nomadic life is doomed, and the humorous text referring to expatriates in the capital, "China's unofficial 57th minority group."

By no means is it all exotic headdresses, ancient architecture and winning smiles; this is not your standard coffee-book tome. Carter doesn't flinch as he profiles victims of industrial accidents, fire and mental illness, some reduced to begging for a living. But, curiously, even they seem to retain a bit of dignity as seen through his eyes.