China-Portrait of a Country by 88 Chinese Photographers

So I'm going to try starting this new thing where I post an art/coffee table book from my humble collection. Maybe a novel or something might find its way in there from time to time.

I picked up this book today at Chapters for $10.50(!!!!) It was on sale down from $65. Crowfoot Chapters. Cop it while you can, cats. 2 Left. I as blown away that they still have copies left, as I've seen it sitting on the shelves for months. This thing is pretty big, a good 13.5" tall and 10" wide. 425 pages.

The photographs start at around 1949 and progress to the modern day. They are shot in a social documentary style, illustrating the life of ordinary Chinese. Apparently these types of photos were tough to find, because of a preference for landscape and portrait photography in Chinese culture and censorship by the government. Some photographers were fearful of releasing their photographs and the editor of the book had to meet them in their homes to reassure them.

Check out this title on Taschen's web site.