Fading Nanjing Scenery

Author: Xue Bing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The book includes over 200 photographs, divided into seven sections. The selected photographs are naturally expected to be fresh; even if they are once-common images, they can still reveal new insights through innovative arrangements and interpretations. This is, of course, not the entirety of Nanjing's scenery, nor can it be called its essence. However, they were once part of Nanjing's scenery, and even an indispensable and irreplaceable part. Their disappearance is a hard-to-repair loss for both Nanjing and its people.
Two points need clarification: first, the book also selects a small number of photographs reflecting the history of war, particularly those depicting the Japanese invasion of China; second, the principle of the time frame for the photographs ends in 1949, but several photographs from the past half-century are also included, such as scenes of Nanjing's walls being demolished in the 1950s and the demolition of exquisite ancient buildings in the 1990s. They may not qualify as "scenery," but they will certainly help readers understand "disappearance."