Marc Riboud joined Magnum in 1955, travelling to the Far East and sending his first picture report on China in 1957. Since then he has visited the country many times, observing and recording the changes that have taken place, seeing Mao's revolution erode until in many respects China has become a mirror of the capitalist West.
The contrast between these two worlds can often be caught more vividly in a single image or pair of images than in analytical prose, and Riboud shows a uncanny instinct for choosing such images. They are brilliantly displayed in this beautifully reproduced book.
Marc Riboud has continually returned to China since the 1950s to photograph the development and change of a country that he loves. Here, he offers a personally chosen retrospective of his best images of China, ranging from the Great Leap Forward to the economic boom, from the severe egalitarian poverty to the "nouveau riches", from the Cultural Revolution to the cult of money. All the photographs are complemented by captions, anecdotes and personal reflections. Arranged chronologically, this work opens with images of China in the 1950s, which can sometimes be seen today. In the photographs which follow, Riboud depicts the contrasts and reflections between old China, while the book's final section is devoted to the extraordinary changes that this country has undergone in the 1980s and 1990s - from glass towers and giant interchanges to machinery and mini skirts.
