Carter: 'Indigenous Chinese and Latino Cultures Share Similar Struggles'

Photojournalist Tom Carter, author of \'CHINA: Portrait of a People.\'

2008-02-14 08:57:47 - CHINA: Portrait of a People author Tom Carter claims globalization affecting China and South America ethnic minorities.

On the eve of photojournalist Tom Carter's highly-anticipated book of photography CHINA: Portrait of a People, the new author spoke of shared class struggles between China's ethnic minorities and Latin America's indigenous tribes.

In an insightful one-to-one interview with ForeignerCN.com correspondent Krokodil Han, world-traveling photojournalist Carter said his journeys to the jungles of Guatemala and China's Yunnan province were a lesson in globalization.

Says Carter of Central America: 'It is poor, but colorful; it is beautiful, proud and strong.' But even the Latin America he visited just 8 years ago has already dramatically changed. Under the process of globalization, Tom realized this kind of cultural conflict must be happening in many other countries and regions around the world, and thus he eventually arrived in China.

Since carrying the same patched-up backpack all the way to the P.R.C., Tom has found amazing similarities between indigenous Latino and Chinese cultures. "If you put the Indians of Guatemala and the ethnic minorities from Yunnan together, you might be hard pressed to tell who is from where. Visually, they are almost identical: dark brown skin, colorful hand-stitched clothes with remarkably similar patterns, agrarian-based societies residing primarily in the mountainous regions, and each struggling to subsist while fighting to preserve their ancient heritage."

'I think that strengthened my bond with Chinese culture. It made me realize that we are alike, that we are all related in some way.'

To read the entire interview 'ON THE CHINA ROAD' by Krokodil Han, please follow this non-commercial, spam-free link: www.foreignercn.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12 ..

Tom Carter's CHINA: Portrait of a People, due out this spring, will be the most definitive book of photography on contemporary China ever published by a single author.

Advance sales orders for CHINA: Portrait of a People can be placed directly with Blacksmith Books in Hong Kong. www.blacksmithbooks.com

Tom Carter's images of China can be viewed directly on his official homepage. www.tomcarter.org

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