Beijing Camel Traffic Jam

This Camel Traffic Jam in Beijing in the 1920s is just one of the many great photographs by Sidney D. Gamble recently put online by the Duke University Archive of Documentary Arts.

Without the Internet, many of us probably would never have seen Gamble’s great work.

Details on the man:

From 1908 to 1932, Sidney Gamble (1890-1968) visited China four times, traveling throughout the country to collect data for social-economic surveys and to photograph urban and rural life, public events, architecture, religious statuary, and the countryside. A sociologist, renowned China scholar, and avid amateur photographer, Gamble used some of the pictures to illustrate his monographs. The Sidney D. Gamble Photographs digital collection marks the first comprehensive public presentation of this large body of work that includes photographs of Korea, Japan, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Russia. The site currently features photographs dated between 1917 and 1932; the 1908 photographs will be digitized and uploaded as part of future additions to the site.

My posting of this image - in the interests of teaching about old Beijing and research about China’s history - hopefully does not breach the complex phrasing of copyright on the images.

Hat tip to James Fallows

Sophie Richardson: Olympics Coverage Guide for Journalists

Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director of Human Rights Watch, interviewed by Hugo Restall, Editor of The Far Eastern Economic Review about the Chinese government’s attitude towards media.

Richardson recently published a new report, “China’s Forbidden Zones: Shutting the Media Out of Tibet and Other ‘Sensitive’ Stories.”

Beijing vs TV Networks: Olympic Media Showdown

Let the games begin!

With the August 8 opening of the Olympic games only weeks away, confidential meeting minutes reveal ongoing battles between TV networks and Beijing Olympic organizers.

In the meeting, which took place a week or so ago, points of contention included new limits on live coverage and allegations that shipments of TV equipment have been held up in Chinese ports

“I think what I have heard here are just a number of conditions or requirements that are just not workable,” said IOC official Gilbert Felli, according to minutes of the May 29 meeting obtained by reporter Stephen Wade of the Associated Press. “There are a number of things that are just not feasible.”

Some TV executives were upset that the government looks like it will not permit live coverage from Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. This is a change from two months ago when IOC officials in Beijing said China had agreed to allow such live coverage.

“The Chinese are very concerned about something going wrong — and so they are in Olympic gridlock,” said John Barton, director of sport for the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, which represents broadcasters in 57 countries. “They are suffocating the television coverage in the crazy pursuit of security. They can’t secure the event. Nothing can be totally secure, yet they are trying to do that.”

The tone of the meeting’s minutes is a stark contrast to public statements from the IOC.