City and Country Fare

The Songs of the South, Ch’u Tz’u

The whole of China is vast, mysterious and seemingly unending. It would have taken me a dozen lifetimes to visit all of it, traveling up to the Tibetan highlands, and to the wastes of Inner Mongolia. But what I saw left me with an impression of people struggling against problems of poverty, lack of industry, sometimes primitive hygiene and other conditions, and barely functional kitchens. I had the luxury of a car and combination driver/guide, as well as the companionship of photographer Leong Ka Tai and his assistant. I also travelled by air. The planes were not exactly clean by Western standards and sometimes operated on a schedule I could not fathom. Still, like the trains, they carry a variety of Chinese people on the move including businessmen, people visiting relatives, and students going to Beijing. On one flight I saw a prosperous peasant grandfather going to visit his grandchildren on what was perhaps his first plane ride.