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Image of The Week: China – Out With The Old and In With The New

 

This image was taken in Beijing in 2007, and in it’s own obscure way I believe symbolizes what is the awakening of ‘Napoleons Sleeping Dragon’. The jack hammers and excavators were hard at work, re-shaping the city for the up and coming 2008 Olympics. On arrival in China I had no real expectations of the country, and was quite shocked at where the country was at. I don’t think people have any real understanding of what is happening in modern China today. I was one of those people, until I witnessed the country with my own eyes. A good friend on mine visited Beijing back in 1996 (not really all that long ago) and asked me upon my return ‘What about all of those bicycles on the streets, it’s madness?’ I looked at him with a blank stare, as there were no bicycles, only cars! Modernization of a city such as Beijing, is always going to bring debate. Some will argue that it should be left untouched, and preserved. Locals will say, they want to live in a modern world, with plumbing and electricity that actually works. A happy medium, in my opinion is the best answer. Good luck obtaining it though…

An image taken in Beijing China Showing The Demolition of Old China

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DigiDrift – This Image by Jason Webb is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License

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About the author

Jason has travelled the world extensively during the last 20 years, with overland journeys on six continents and across almost 90 countries. This site serves as a chronicle of the images and tales from these journeys, as well as offering advice and general information for other like minded travellers.

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  • http://www.MyBeautifulAdventures.com/ Andi Perullo

    Oh wow, I LOVE the juxtaposition of old and new!!! That’s one hell of a capture my friend!

  • http://www.digid-rift.com Jason

    Thanks Andi. It was another one of those right place and right time instances with a camera in hand. I caught the silhouettes in the corner of my eye, and made my way into the entry of the construction site to get the shot.

  • Anonymous

    We were just in China and were amazed with how modern it is. They are happy to get rid of the old and bring in the new. I can’t blame the Chinese for wanting to have running water and a higher standard of living. We are so quick in the West to say that countries should remain unchanged. Easy for us to say, we have heat, air conditioning and hot water. Great post and picture.

  • http://www.digid-rift.com Jason

    Thanks for stopping by guys. I completely agree with what your saying about people in the West always being quick to judge others when it comes to modernization of their own cultures. Glad you like the photo and I appreciate your comment.

  • http://twitter.com/OverYonderlust Erica Kuschel

    I am in love with the silhouettes on that awesome orange sky. Was that the color it was at the time? Eerie and beautiful at the same time.

  • http://www.digid-rift.com Jason

    Erica, thanks for your comment. The sunsets whilst we were there were beautiful, and I reckon it must have something to do with all of that pollution that hovers over Beijing. I’ve saturated the sky a little to give a better effect to the image, but there were some dark clouds hovering over the right hand side, that are just captured in the image.

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