Tuesday 25 August 2009

China - land of contrasts

 
This is by no means the most extreme example of the contrast between have and have-nots I came across, but it was the first. This shot is just across the way from the glossy hotel we stayed in in Beijing. That building that looks like a shed is someone's home and what woman is doing here is washing up at the communal tap. The aircon is something that you find even on the more downmarket homes (I hesitate before using the epithet "hovel", but I can't help thinking that); it's near universal application puts you in mind of the coal burning electricity generation that powers China. It goes some way to explaining the miasma of pollution that hangs over Beijing, casting a dirty haze over everything.

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