In China in the 1980’s there were very few cars or trucks and no tractors on farms, but many, many bicycles. Most everybody was dressed in white shirts and dark pants. It was a far simpler, yet harsher time long before China's economy exploded and the country ever considered opening up to the outisde World. Long before Chinese citizens were even allowed to travel outside their home province. A time when a man could set up his desk in the street, but and era of a paranoid and controlling government that smacked of Orwell's '1984'. Anyone questioning the government or members of minorities, especially the untold thousands of Chinese Muslims suffering under the yoke of President Xi Jinping, could be made to disappear overnight for showing “symptoms” of religious radicalism. Should students ask whether their missing parents had committed a crime, they are told no, “it is just that their thinking has been infected by unhealthy thoughts". An American-Chinese member of our small tour group who spoke Mandarin was asked to translate some Chinese history, refused to translate their version of history. He and others later left the group rather than listen to the Communist Party version of 'history'.

Images shot entirely on classic Kodak Kodachrome 64 slide film. These are new 2020 scans from the original Kodachrome transparencies, long buried in slide binders in a closet.

UPDATE: Have just found more batches from this trip. To follow.