Welcome!

A few words before we start.

I wanted to make this book first to remember the extraordinary experience it was crisscrossing China for almost four years straight and meeting some of the most wonderful people.

Wandering its massive territory by car, motorcycle, speed train, or flight, the goal for a while was to feel the land between the four corners of its geography. Moreover, It was to immerse myself into the intense presence everywhere of a people becoming clearly aware of the historical transformation of the country during the last forty years. In every town and county, big and small, the architecture reveals a long history rich in culture and accomplishment, as well as an eager sight onto the future.

As this journey had to be cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I came to realize that it could also be a good idea to share some of this extensive Chinese experience with friends and curious minds alike. Hence, another reason I thought this book could be useful to add to the myriad of books and articles now covering, mostly from afar, the accelerating rise of a gigantic country populated with 1.4 billion inhabitants.

A warning, however: all pictures were captured with smartphones (Samsung, Apple, Oppo, Redmi, Huawei). It’s good to keep this in mind, as well as the fact that I am not a professional photographer. As an artist, I work and manipulate pictures freely without specific rules. I like to make images, to create atmosphere, to reveal content. For a similar reason, words can certainly accompany the image, but they are not necessary. So, that’s what I’ll do: insert short text here and there to guide you as to where we are in the country, or to express personal thoughts. Most of the time: I will leave the image alone. With a look at it, it will talk more by itself. It will talk more to you, in particular.

Indeed, this book is designed to let you imagine the story out of an intense series of digital photographic sequences. These sequences try to reveal the rich diversity observed and experienced during a four-year journey across the Chinese country. And since it is said that one picture is worth a thousand words, you might find several intriguing stories that could incite you to want to know more about a country that we certainly need to know better.

We all need to know better about each other — more than ever.

We are all Homo sapiens and this planet Earth is our “Motherland” to us all.

Maybe another reason to share my small experience in a magnificent country growing at an unimaginable pace with mountain ranges of potential and… massive challenges.

Let’s get started — we’ll talk more in there.