China Street Life #12
Jiuquan, China
2016

Some of the exercise groups I observed used props of some sort or the other in their routines. I’ve seen them use umbrellas, sashes, and in this case swords. You don’t want to be standing too close to your partners in your group with these!

China Street Life #11
Jiuquan, China
2016

Every morning when they report to work employees of many Chinese businesses gather outside for a round of exercise, generally some form of not-particularly vigorous dance-like routine (sometimes suggestive of tai chi) but exercise nonetheless. Other exercise gatherings of folks not obvious employees of a particular business in the morning are also quite common. Perhaps this is one reason why you rarely see an obviously overweight person in China.

China Street Life #10
Jiuquan, China
2016

Morning Shadows
Jiuquan, China
2016

Lost in Translation #4
Dunhuang, China
2016

This woman, in fact all three of the folks in the photo, were part of our tour group. They didn’t speak English, nor I Chinese, so I couldn’t ask her what she thought the message on her jacket meant. I imagine the top line means something like “tell me everything.” What that means in relation to the second line I don’t know. But the mystery message had my attention every time I saw it.

China Street Life #9
Jiuquan, China
2016

This guy and his wife (in the background) both seemed to think it was funny that I wanted to photograph them at their hardware shop. They started smiling when they first noticed me pointing my camera their way and didn’t stop the whole time I was there. He didn’t speak English (nor I Chinese), so I took the photo, thanked him, shook his hand and moved on.

China Street Life #8
Jiuquan, China
2016

China Street Life #7
Jiuquan, China
2016

This studious looking puppy was the greeter at the local pet hospital.

China Daily Life #6
Yumen City, China
2016

Gender roles are more traditional in China than this photo suggests, as is work clothing.  I don’t know what was going on, but for whatever reason, this woman was showing this guy how mixing concrete is done. Even the Fashion Queen doesn’t dress up that much for manual labor.

China Street Life #6
Jiuquan, China
2016

With the content on the billboard, this photo would also qualify for my series Lives Real and Imagined as well as Lost in Translation.