HISTORY IMAGES [Hardcover]

Norman Bryson (Author), Stephen Shore (Author), Sze Tsung Leong (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 21, 2008

Since 2002, Sze Tsung Leong has been photographing the dramatic changes that are transforming the cities of China, revealing a process that begins with the destruction of traditional neighborhoods and ends in the mass construction of new urban environments. He travels with a large-format view camera, visiting cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Nanjing, Pingyao and Xiamen, and the resulting highly detailed images portray the immense scale of the upheaval and of the contradictions created by its uncertain and fluctuating environment. Traditional buildings in the process of being demolished are juxtaposed against the glass walls that are about to replace them; seemingly abandoned buildings on the verge of destruction, or in the midst of construction, reveal clues of habitation; historic areas survive as a result of neglect and isolation rather than intent; and obscured in the midst of expansive, culturally ambivalent spaces, small Chinese script on indistinct signs serves as the only hint that these environments are in China. Collectively, the photographs in History Images capture the erasure and subsequent absence of history, and the moment of anticipation for the new future to unfold; it is an urban reality caught in the tenuous period after the end of one history and at the beginning of another.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Steidl (November 21, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3865212743
• ISBN-13: 978-3865212740
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 12.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #940,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Arresting Massive Change, February 6, 2007

By 

Howard French "Bigfoot" (Shanghai, China) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: HISTORY IMAGES (Hardcover)

Sze Tsung Leong has done one of the greatest things a photographer can do in this book, and that is elaborating a unique stylistic vision and remaining faithful to it over the course of many, many images.
His subject is the immense scale and pace of change underway in China today, and he has found ways both bold and sly to lasso his subject.
Lets state first of all that the images show an immense amount of care and of technical proficiency. But then there is so much more, great, haunted urban landscapes in the midst of utter transformation.
Here is China as you will not be accustomed to seeing it, and that's meant as high praise from a photographer who lives in the country. [...]

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars wrong picture by Jung-shing Wu, February 3, 2010

By 

chris_d - See all my reviews

This review is from: HISTORY IMAGES (Hardcover)

I would just like to say that the picture uploaded by Jung-shing Wu has nothing to do with the book. Why do you upload your amateurish pictures in such a context?
Apart from that, this is one of my all-time favorite photobooks. Perfect pictures, perfect printing.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars art and social comment, December 2, 2007

By 

M. Van Tol (Utrecht, Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: HISTORY IMAGES (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book with a not so wonderful subject: the replacement of the old towns in China. Old houses make place for skyscrapers and people are forced to move. Beautiful printed by Steidl.