List Price: $50.00
Save: $14.84 (30%)

FREE Shipping.

Only 1 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Want it tomorrow, May 26? Order within and choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details

Ship to:

CHICAGO, IL 60290

Buy Used

$12.98

FREE Shipping on orders over $25.

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Clean Earth Books

Fulfilled by Amazon

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Other Sellers on Amazon

Add to Cart

$39.58
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: BooKnackrh

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Inside China Hardcover – October 16, 2007

by National Geographic (Author)

3 customer reviews

See all 6 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$35.16

$30.11

$2.00

Hardcover
$35.16 31 Used from $2.00 15 New from $30.11

China's emergence as an economic and cultural giant reigns as a key international story of our time. In an unprecedented visual tour de force, National Geographic chronicles this astonishing ascent through some of the most eye-opening, evocative, and extraordinary pictures ever recorded of the enigmatic nation, past and present.

Exotic China has always attracted great photographers, and its history has yielded unforgettable scenes. Inside China unveils fascinating archival images rarely made public: Luminaries Henri Cartier-Bresson and Marc Riboud portray the old order and the ascendancy of Chairman Mao; Chinese news photographer Li Zhensheng gives startling new insight into the harsh Cultural Revolution. Today's China, filled with excitement and fraught with challenge, is captured by contemporary photographers including Mark Leong, Paolo Pellegrin, and Mark Henley—who, with privileged access, depict fashionable youth and glamour, the development of mega-industry, and new materialism alongside traditional religion and rural life, revealing the rapidly changing scene in all its complexity. Five renowned experts on China—Jonathan Spence, James Watt, James MacGregor, Elizabeth Economy, and Minxin Pei—narrate and enrich the story with informative, thought-provoking essays.

China will continue to attract global attention as the country prepares to host the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2010 World's Fair. This unprecedented book, an integral part of National Geographic's initiative on China, holds great appeal for photography and history enthusiasts, as well as the wider general audience craving a deeper cultural and historical perspective of this intriguing nation.

Inside China

$35.16 FREE Shipping. Only 1 left in stock (more on the way). Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

This shopping feature will continue to load items. In order to navigate out of this carousel please use your heading shortcut key to navigate to the next or previous heading.

Damian Harper

9

Paperback
$6.25

Customers viewing this page may be interested in these sponsored links

(What's this?)

Special offers and product promotions

NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE

Product details

Hardcover: 272 pages
Publisher: National Geographic (October 16, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1426201265
ISBN-13: 978-1426201264
Product Dimensions: 11.3 x 1.1 x 10.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 4.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #629,685 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #300 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography & Video > Photojournalism & Essays > Photojournalism
- #630 in Books > Travel > Asia > General
- #901 in Books > Arts & Photography > Photography & Video > Photojournalism & Essays > Photo Essays

If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

Customers viewing this page may be interested in these sponsored links

(What's this?)

Customer Reviews

3.6 out of 5 stars

5 star		67%
4 star		0%
3 star		0%
2 star		0%
1 star		33%

Write a customer review

See all verified purchase reviews

Top Customer Reviews

did you get the same book as me?

ByMokadi Jookon January 10, 2014

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I don't know what kind of a day ottis 123 was having when he/she got this book, but I hope things got better for her/him.

This is not only one of the finest photographic essays on the subject of China that I've seen, it's one of the finest photographic collections on ANY subject I've seen. Moving & evocative images spanning decades fill this book.

If you want trite, Hallmark calendar-type photos, pass this one up. If you want a window to the heart, soul, land, history and peoples of China, look no further.

11 comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Truly awful

ByOtto123on December 6, 2007

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book has a very sad and depressing tone. I was anxiously waiting for it to arrive, but I was truly disappointed, even more so because it is published by National Geographic, from whom I expected something better. I should have gotten a clue just by looking at the cover picture, an intentionally blurred photo of the Shanghai skyline.

The book basically depicts the ugly, "inside" (thus the title, Inside China) parts of China: turmoil, conflict, contrast, hardship and misery. With so many spectacular photos that could have illustrated China's rise, the authors chose the most mundane images, at best. Especially troubling are the numerous pictures of "bargirls", massage girls, and prostitutes. Additionally, for every photo of progress, there is another one of poverty, displacement and worker exploitation. Maybe that's the authors' artistic way to express contrast. I must have missed the point entirely.

The quality of the photography is not up to par with National Geographic standards. Many night shots are grainy or blurry. The only ones I could really enjoy were the few landscapes at the beginning of the book.

If you are looking for a collection of spectacular photos of China and its people, look elsewhere. I was so angry when I finished the book that I considered giving it away, but even that would be too embarassing for me. I guess I will just have to throw it away, even if that means wasting the $35 it cost me.

22 comments 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

China uncensored...

ByFFYon December 13, 2007

Format: Hardcover

The book opens with the question: How does one get inside China? In 272 pages, Inside China, featuring an expansive collection of photographs from an equally impressive list of photographers and essays by six experts on Chinese culture, politics, history, and economy, makes an earnest attempt to capture the China that it once was, is, and will be. Much of the book is devoted to the China of today, juxtaposed between tradition and the burgeoning capitalism. This book brings the reader face to face with images of poverty, demolished villages, arid farmlands, overworked factory workers, rising skyscrapers, remnants of Communism, struggles for democracy, and the rise of the nouveau riche. These are the uncensored expressions of the Chinese people, seen through the eyes of photographers and journalists who entered China not as foreigners, but as unbiased individuals who were willing to accept the Chinese people as they are.

Most of the subjects were captured in their work clothes, simply doing what they do everyday - living, surviving, and dreaming of a better life. These photos attest to the skills of the photographers, who have somehow made the camera invisible, bringing the reader that much closer to the subjects. In a nation that is struggling to find its own identity, the divide between the past and the future is often blurred, as represented by the symbolic blurring in the cover photo. What gives meaning and significance to the ordinary and the mundane are the shared humanity between the subjects and the onlooker and the hope that the future will bring a more beautiful day. Fittingly, the book ends with a hopeful photo in which the promises of the future and the relics of the past are intertwined. So, how does one get inside China? You leave all of your judgments and preconceptions at the border, and you look at the truth in the eye.

A few personal favorites:
- Reza's photo of a girl dancing in a circumcision ceremony in Xinjiang
- David Butow's photo of Nanjing Road on a rainy night
- David Butow's photo of a parade of Santas in Shanghai
- Kenneth Jarecke's photo of a pro-democracy hunger striker
- Benoit Aquin's photo of a crossroad in Xilinhot during a dust storm
- Mark Leong's photo of a teenage boy standing at the edge of a pool in a fat reduction hospital
- Mark Leong's photo of girls cleaning vegetables at a rural home
- Michael Wolf's photo of workers' living quarters

0Comment 14 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?YesNo

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: Inside China

Set up a giveaway

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: travel photography

English United States

Conditions of Use
Privacy Notice
Interest-Based Ads

Buy New

$35.16

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

or

or