INSIDE CHINA

"National Geographic's" new book "Inside China", tells that story with the best pictures ever taken of China, both past and present. Exotic China has always attracted great photographers -and China's history has yielded unforgettble images. "Inside China" brings you historic photographs you haven't seen before: Photographic luminaries such as Henri Cartier-Bresson (who photographed Beijing and Shanghai in the 1940s) and Margaret Bourke-White (photographing Chiang Kai-Shek) portray the old China and the ascendancy of Chairman Mao; photographs by Chinese news photographer Li Zhensheng cover the Cultural Revolution to give startling new insights into this harsh mysterious era.Today's China, filled with excitement and fraught with challenge, is vividly shown by contemporary photographers such as Mark Leong, Paolo Pellegrin, and Mark Henley, who, with privileged access, present China's fashionable youth and glamour, the development of breathtaking mega-industry, and new materialism alongside traditional religion and rural life, revealing the rapidly changing scene in China in all its complexity. Like the contributing photographers, the contributing writers are all world-famous experts on China, with extensive knowledge of China today and its recent history.Inside China is organised thematically into five chapters: Geography - the introductory chapter presents a sweeping portrait of the vast country's diverse landscape and geography - a thrilling journey across time zones, climatic regions, mountains, deserts, and urban and rural vistas; History - the introduction to China's geography is followed by an intriguing glimpse into China's history, with archival photographs that recall pivotal moments in the country's fascinating and tumultuous past; Tradition - the next chapter looks at the traditional China, where traditional cultural habits and religions still endure in the face of jolting change; and Economic emergence - the theme of the next chapter is China's emergence as an economic superpower, with a look at the factories, industry, production and work ethic that have spawned huge mega-cities and industrial pollution.It also includes Modernization - the final chapter takes an up-close look at the country's modernization with all the exhilaration and upheaval it has generated, as seen in the clash between rural and urban, peasant and middle-class, young and old, rich and poor.