"Skyscrappers"
Interesting pictures. However, it doesn't nullify the skyscrappers and mulit-million dollar hotels, office buildings, etc. that do exist. China is still under construction. The landscape will continue to improve. Alot has been built in 25 years and alot more will be built in the next 25 years. 25 years from now, there'll probably be 3-4 times as many skyscrappers in China than there are today and you'll still be able to take pictures of areas of poverty. Just depends on what you prefer to focus on, the negative (whatever the motivation) or the positive. I for one prefer to focus on China's ever increasing progress.
I don't think it "nullify" teh skyscrapers and the multi-million dollar hotels, but I think it gives some context to a more balanced view of China.
That's because the skyscrapers in China are an illusion - no, that's too strong and not fair, the skyscrapers and the economic growth / prosperity they represent are real (a significant part of my job / time is in China).
*BUT* by their sheer presence (skyscrapers are by design designed to impress, not just in China, but has always been ever since the Empire State Building went up in NYC) - the skyscrapers tend to dominate and distort the senses.
Almost every visitor to Shanghai are bowled over by the "WOW!' factor - the endless skyscrapers and the gilttering lights - But what most vistor don't see, because the skyscrapper and view from the 87th floor of the Jin Mao Tower so overwhelm their senses, is that within a few blocks of any skyscraper in Shanghai, there are streets after streets, neighborhood after neighborhood of scene like the photos here (it's not really even proverty, much of it is quite, umm, normal). And once you get out of the big cities, the rest of the country is still like that ...
>>Just depends on what you prefer to focus on, the negative (whatever the motivation) or the positive. I for one prefer to focus on China's ever increasing progress.
The poverty has become a major problem in today's China. The economic development has benefited only a small number of so-called "elite" people while the majority of the population are living a miserable life. Yes, miserable.