The Green Trains

[Randy W]

from Goldthread

Photo essay: Capturing a fading way of life on China’s slowest trains

Quote

 

Once the main way to travel in China, diesel-powered ‘green trains’ have given way to sleek high-speed rail. But one photographer has been documenting the farmers and migrant workers who still rely on the slow and affordable rail service.

They lack air-conditioning and heating, and they’re frequently delayed, but a ticket on a third-class carriage can cost a tenth of the price of a business-class ticket on a high-speed train.

“I’m interested in the common folk and places you’ve never heard of. That’s where you get a picture of China.”

 

 

Award-winning photos capture fading way of life on China’s slowest trains
Thomas Bird
DEC 03, 2019

Passengers on a train from Jiangsu Province in southeastern China bound for Heilongjiang Province in northeastern China in July 2008. / Photo: Courtesy of Qian Haifeng

Qian Haifeng started documenting life on China’s slowest trains after riding them for many years. / Photo: Thomas Bird/SCMP

Edited March 5, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[amberjack1234]

I agree. That is the China that I like to see. My wife is a skyscraper hugger to the bone though.

[Randy W]

Another article with more pictures (same photographer, Qian Haifeng) from the Sixth Tone

Life on the Slow Train: Views of a Vanishing China

• Qian Haifeng has spent years documenting the decline of China’s “green trains” — the Mao-era rail network that remains a vital lifeline for millions of blue-collar workers.

https://www.facebook.com/1570821646570023/posts/2727561220896054/

Quote

In 2008, the year China’s first high-speed train went into operation, Qian Haifeng started documenting the country’s “green trains” — the Mao-era rail network that remains a vital lifeline for millions of blue-collar workers.

 

Learn more: http://ow.ly/kV8M50B5rg5

Edited March 5, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Train L208 from Urumqi to Xuzhou, Nov. 14, 2013. Courtesy of Qian Haifeng

 

Train 6061 from Liupanshui, Guizhou province to Kunming, Yunan province, Feb. 25, 2014. Courtesy of Qian Haifeng

Train 5630 from Zunyi, Guizhou province to Chongqing, Nov. 23, 2016. Courtesy of Qian Haifeng

Edited March 5, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Another train photographer - from the Sixth Tone

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Wang Fuchun, the award-winning photographer best known for capturing life on China’s railways, has died at the age of 79.

“Every time I took the train, it was like wandering the streets of Harbin, the ‘hutong’ of Beijing, or the lanes of Shanghai, making me fall into a daydream.”

See more: http://ow.ly/TW3g50DYQKT

The Long, Winding Journey of China’s Train-Riding Photographer
Wang Fuchun spent over 40 years capturing life on China’s railways. Now, the renowned photographer’s epic ride has come to an end.

Edited December 21, 2022 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Another photo topic - abandoned building projects

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Photographer Meng Wei talks about the many years he spent traveling across China to photograph buildings left unfinished during the country’s rapid urbanization drive.

“Each unfinished building represents a lot of wasted resources.”

Read more: http://ow.ly/vA5a50E9aCO

 

 

from the Sixth Tone on Facebook 

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1533162090408288

China, Unfinished: The Skeletal Cityscapes of Photographer Meng Wei
Photographer Meng Wei shares his obsession with the abandoned tower blocks littering the skylines of major Chinese cities.

Edited April 1, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)