The book features several pairs of “Before and After” photos taken either of the same place 24 years apart. The first pair here form the front and back covers of the book.
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- 1981: Campus road looking south
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- 2005: The same campus road looking south, this time photographed from the safety of a pedestrian overpass
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- 1981: A worker hauls night soil from city latrines to the farm field south of campus
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- 2005: The same intersection as the last photo: look carefully and you can recognize the campus building in the center of the photo
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- 1981: Neighborhood general store and free market
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- 2005: The general store building had been divided into private shops. The free market had moved a couple of blocks south into the ad-hoc Shapo Village.
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- 1981: Farmers set up a free market across the street from the general store
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- 2005: The spot where the farmers used to set up is now the location of a supermarket
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- 1981: Kids chase a pig from the nearby agricultural village past communist-era university housing
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- 2005: Stylishly dressed women walk through the neighborhood; old housing is being rapidly replaced
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- 1981: Cultural Revolution slogans (“Long live Chairman Mao”) remain visible on the side of a classroom building
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- 2005: Intel hosts a recruiting fair on campus
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- 1981: Our students crowd into old-fashioned wooden desks in an unlit room
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- 2005: The cubicles and workstations of XJTU’s Artificial Intelligence and Robotics Institute could be in any office park in the US
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- 1981: Students play volleyball on the packed earth outside their dormitory building
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- 2005: Modern dorm building
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- 1981: Looking west from the Bell Tower; Drum tower is to the right
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- 2005: Looking west from the Bell Tower; Drum tower is to the right
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- 1981: Looking toward the center of the city from the West Gate
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- 2005: Looking toward the center of the city from the West Gate. Few of the old buildings remain
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- 1981: Small homes gain a free fourth wall by being build against the back side of Xi’an’s city wall
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- 2005: The old homes are gone, and the interior side of the wall has been refaced with brick
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- 1982: Typical home within the Xi’an city wall
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- 2005: Luxury homes in a gated community near Xi’an’s High Tech Zone
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- 1981: A donkey cart plies the road running between campus and Xingqing park
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- 2005: The same road is now lined with businesses and parked cars
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- 1982: Itinerant quilt fluffers, 1982
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- 2005: Itinerant painters advertising their services on a Xi’an street
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- 1981: Main highway between Xi’an and the army of terracotta soldiers.
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- 2005: The freeway is new, but local farmers still spread their grain to dry on the pavement
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- 1982: Market day in Huxian
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- 2005: Postmodern merchandising in Huxian
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- 1981: Children singing in class at Dayanta Primary School
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- 2005: Still colorfully dressed, children gather at a school yard.
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- 1981: The relative luxury of a well-connected official’s apartment
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- 2005: The stylish high-rise apartment of one of our former students
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- 1981: The gas stove in this kitchen is a sign that the owner is well connected
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- 2005: Our former student’s wife cooks in the sleek kitchen of her high rise home
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- 1981: Road along the east side of the city wall
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- 2005: Road along the east side of the city wall; old buildings are still visible
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- 1982: Doing the laundry, Xi’an, summer
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- 1982: Front entrance to a home within the city wall, Xi’an
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- 1982: Men playing mah jong on a day so hot that factories were closed
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- 1982: A woman with bound feet relaxes in the shade as another woman sells popsicles
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- 1981: Sidewalk recycling
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- 1981: Free market staples: melon seeds and toilet paper
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- 1981: Chicken vendor
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- 1981: Buying eggs at the free market
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- 1982: Tilling a field within three miles of downtown Xi’an
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- 1981: A woman in padded clothing works outside her home near Xi’an, 1981. The characters refer to the model farming commune, Dazhai.
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- 1982: A woman mends clothing outside her cave home, Lintong
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- 1981: Donkey cart on the road west of Xi’an
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- 1981: Terraced fields south of Xi’an, 1981
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- 1981: Weeding by hand
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- 1981: An orchard in spring just south of Xi’an, 1982
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- 1981: Fields south of Xi’an, 1982
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- 1981: A woman weighs sweet potatoes to sell
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- 1981: Grinding chili peppers in the Muslim neighborhood of Xi’an
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- 1981: Children performing a skit at Dayanta Primary School
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- 1981: Children sit at attention in class
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- 1981: Rising to answer the teacher’s question
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- 1982: Spreading grain to dry on the grounds of a monastery just south of Xi’an
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- 1982: A monk lights incense in a temple just south of Xi’an
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- 1982: Roadside bicycle repair
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- 1982: Patti at Hunching Hot Spring, terraced fields in background
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- Start of the trail to Huashan, spring 1982
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- 1982: Country women, some with bound feet, climb to shrines atop Huashan
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- 1982: Tourists and pilgrims on Huashan
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- 1982: Huashan
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- 1982: On a ledge at Huashan, spring
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- 1982: Burning incense and ceremonial “money” at a Huashan temple, 1982
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- 1982: Gauss dining on the train
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- 1982: Family riding hard sleeper coach
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- 1982: Hard seat coach; many rode standing for hours, as more tickets were sold than seats available
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- 1982: Restaurant employees taking a break, 1982
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- 1982: Homes in the hilly Sichuan city of Chongqing, 1982
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- 1982: Crowded bus, Chongqing
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- 2005: New meets old. Freeway exit (top of image) grades to a dirt road servicing a small village in northern Shaanxi
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- 2005: Old hutong style homes within the city wall have been replace with 5- and 6-story apartment blocks
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- 2005: The guest house where I lived
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- 2005: Ad hoc Shapo Village occupies former farm fields adjacent to Jiaotong University
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- 2005: Chefs cooking at the Jiaotong University cafeteria
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- 2005: Chefs cooking at the Jiaotong University cafeteria
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- 2005: Chefs cooking at the Jiaotong University cafeteria
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- 2005: Selling baked goods in our neighborhood
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- 2005: Selling baked goods in our neighborhood
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- 2005: Skewers of meat for sale in Shapo Village
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- 2005: Food stall, Shapo Village
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- 2005: My favorite food stall, Shapo Village
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- 2005: A mobile tinker repairs pans in the Muslim neighborhood
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- 2005: Warming hands by a street vendor’s steaming baskets
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- 2005: A young Muslim man sells breakfast stew at a sidewalk stand
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- 2005: Enjoying soup dumplings with work colleagues
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- 2005: Veggie, tofu, and meat options at a food stall
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- 2005: Organ meat options in Xi’an’s main market
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- 2005: Cell phone in hand, a woman inspects tiny octopus before buying
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- 2005: Abundant produce for sale
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- 2005: Cudai mien—”pants belt noodle” a local specialty.
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- 2005: Xi’an clothing store mannequins capitalize on the city’s fame as home to the army of terracotta soldiers
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- 2005: Transporting rice and peppers by bike to an old part of town
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- 2005: Department store displays in downtown Xi’an