Visiting Rural China — Central Hunan Countryside

My Changsha friends took me with their car to the rural areas of Hunan Province where I visited an English school operated by a classmate as well as visiting the hometown of my professor friend whom I first met back in Canada.

The photos this time will be primarily of the countryside, as seen in
September.

What is amazing to many foreigners it the fact that 1.3 billion people live in a country that is at least 75% mountains and desert. The rivers, streams and valleys are thus a very important part of the Chinese landscape. It is also the place where much of Chinese culture and tradition thrived for centuries.

The valleys in China created hundreds of small communities, separated from each by mountain ranges. This largely explains why there were hundreds of languages and dialects spoken by Chinese people.

Today, much of rural China continues a way of life not much different from its historical past. While trade and manufacturing have brought much prosperity to the cities, the newfound wealth of China is only slowly trickling back to the villages.

Farming in many parts of China presents special challenges. While small-scale mechanized farming is possible on the valley floors, working the small plots on the mountain sides often continues to be done by hand.

But in almost every village, there are some modern houses, often in stark contrast to the traditional village contruction.  The explanation:  children have left the village, done well in the cities, and now provide money for the contruction of a quality house for parents back home.

I saw a lot of countryside on this trip.  Most of my photos where shot through the car windows as we moved through the towns and countryside.

I caught this villager having a smoke break in front of his small business in landscaping materials, with his baskets ready to transport as needed.  As we drove past him, he flashed me this big friendly smile, and I have assumed he did not mind me photographing him.

Later, along the roadside, I viewed these same wicker baskets being used in road construction.  In contrast to the use of big equipment, as one might expect, local farmers are being given employment in constructing sections of the new road.

This is just a sampling of album photos of photos taken during our travels in Central Hunan.

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      Rural China 1 — Central Hunan Countryside

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Last update: 2010/02/05