China Travel 2.0

1 when did you come to China,what does the China image looks like before you come to the country,and is there something quite difference after you arived in china? Can you speak Chinese?what’s the level?
I arrived in China in 2004 as a “Foreign Expert English Instructor.” I taught for one year at Shengli Oilfield in Shandong Province along the Yellow River Delta. The following year I worked as a Business English trainer for multinational corporations in Beijing. I also freelanced as a photographer. I then embarked on a 2-year backpacking expedition across the 33 provinces of China, which took me to over 200 cities and villages, over 56,000 kilometers in total. I’ve never had any formal Mandarin-language instruction. I’ve learned to speak “survival Chinese” from conversing with locals on the street and out of sheer necessity.
2 how many placees did you travel in China? why did you make this great project? did you plan to publish the book,CHINA: Portrait of a People before your travel? or after you travel so many different placese in China, you wanna publish the book?why did you publish this book? what will you try to tell to your readers?
CHINA: Portrait of a People was conceived while backpacking across the 33 provinces of China. I was determined to see and experience as much Chinese culture as I could, for I felt my first two years in China teaching English were a bit constricted.  So I hit the road on my diminutive teaching savings, solo, slumming it for a year. I was taking pictures, but these were mere afterthoughts following spontaneous interactions with people I encountered along the way. At the end of my trip, I had complied a massive collection of photos.  Some acquaintances of mine were saying I was the first foreigner in China since perhaps Marco Polo to go on record for traveling to all 33 provinces, then putting ideas into my head about publishing a book about it. After talking with several publishers around China, I signed a contract with Blacksmith Books in Hong Kong, where the book wouldn’t be censored but still had mainland distribution. However, if this was to be the first photobook covering all 33 Chinese provinces ever published by a single author, then I wanted it to be perfect, definitive. So I hit the road again for another year, this time with my girlfriend, and together we retraced my path and also blazed some new trails, but now with the express purpose of capturing all of China on film. The end result of those two years is CHINA: Portrait of a People.

3 tell us some interesting stories during your trip in the 33 provinces in china.sad or happy,the places and the people.
I’ve had one too many embarrassing cross-cultural events, some of which have made it onto the news or become the stuff of expat legend. I experienced a life-threatening bout of encephalitis after 9 months in China. Upon being admitted to the emergency room, the doctors and nurses didn’t know how to react to their first foreign patient and seemed to be entertained more than concerned with my situation. But the situation was quickly remedied once they realized that my illness was lethal. I was hospitalized for 10 days, and during this time the state-run press decided to photograph me in my bed-ridden state, then ran a story about it in the local newspapers. Other embarrassing moments include almost being arrested several times by police for my photojournalism, having a machine gun pointed in my face when accidentally crossing over the DPRK border, getting beaten up by three drunken Chinese men at a hotel late one night, and of course all the uncountable times I found myself surrounded by dozens upon dozens of Chinese people in rural China staring and pointing at their first sighting of a “laowai” (foreigner).
4 tell us something about the real Tibet,is there something different between the Tibetan people come from Qinghai province or Sichuan or Tibet?
Tibet originally encompassed Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu. The borders are new, but as far as Tibetans are concerned there are no borders; it’s still Tibet. The issues between Tibet and China run long and deep and there’s nothing we can say or do to change it, so it’s best just to focus on the positive and the beautiful. Tibet is a stunning, spiritual region and a people whom I have the utmost respect for.

5 tell our readers,where is the best place to travel in China?why?
The best place to travel in China is as many places as possible, because each province is unique with its own character and charm. Visiting just a few sites and cities isn’t my bag.
6 give us some advinces if some of our readers wanna travel to the whole china as well.
Well, I really pinch my pennies, so I’m not sure if people should be taking my travel advice, heh. But as far as seeing the entire country, I think it’s most fun to head out without a destination or itinerary, and just see where China takes you. No matter which direction you go, you are bound to have a truly memorable experience.
7 where can we find and buy your book? will you publish another book about China? and what’s your future plan?
Right now, CHINA: Portrait of a People is only on sale online from my publisher’s website.
http://www.blacksmithbooks.com/9789889979942.htm
http://www.havenbooksonline.com/shop/index.htm
and for Chinese at Blue Fountain
http://www.51eng.com/cn/list/listys.asp?id=878709
Distribution to Beijing and Shanghai bookstores has been delayed for undisclosed reasons. My Hong Kong publishers at Blacksmith Books / Haven Books are also seeking co-publishers and distributors in North American and Europe so they can introduce CHINA: Portrait of a People to a world audience. Meanwhile, I am writing a Choose Your Own Adventure-style novel based on my adventures in China; all the moments that I failed to capture on film. And I am also presently lining up travel funding and camera sponsorships to create my next Portrait of a People book. I haven’t yet decided on a country, and am open to suggestions, but I am leaning towards India, not only because it is an emerging world superpower like China, but simply for its challenging immensity. But no matter where I decide, I’ll once again hit the road for an indefinite period of time so I can photograph the entire country, top to bottom, until I have seen it all.

Tags: China travel, China Travel 2.0, Tom Carter, Winser