Book Description
No Western photographer is as intimately acquainted with China as Yann Layma, who speaks Chinese and has spent nine years working there over the course of a 20-year career. Layma's reportage of this vast country is extraordinarily complete: he portrays city and country; traditional customs and the shock of modernity; and every aspect of public and private life. His style is personal and poetic, and he is alive to nuances of gesture and expression. From the classical architecture of the Great Wall to the skyscrapers of up-to-the minute Shanghai, he captures the essence of one of the world's great nations. With an introduction by Layma and five essays by highly regarded writers-including Dai Sijie, author of the celebrated novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress-China is the most significant and comprehensive visual book on its subject to be published in our time.

About the Author
Yann Layma has been a freelance photographer for more than 20 years. His work appears regularly in some of the world's foremost magazines, including Paris Match, GEO, and the Sunday Times. Anne Loussouarn is a writer who collaborates with Layma on the story of his life and work in China. Catherine Zittoun is a writer, poet, and theater producer. Writer and director. Zao Wou-ki is a Paris-based Chinese artist. José Frèches is the former curator and specialist of Chinese art at the Musée Guimet and the Louvre in Paris. Jean Leclerc du Sablon was a correspondent for Le Figaro and L'Express in China for 30 years. Dai Sijie is the author of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, which he adapted to the screen and directed.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

No Western photographer is as intimately acquainted with China as Yann Layma, who speaks Chinese and has spent nine years working there over the course of a 20-year career. Layma￯﾿ﾽs reportage of this vast country is extraordinarily complete: he portrays city and country; traditional customs and the shock of modernity; and every aspect of public and private life. His style is personal and poetic, and he is alive to nuances of gesture and expression. From the classical architecture of the Great Wall to the skyscrapers of up-to-the minute Shanghai, he captures the essence of one of the world￯﾿ﾽs great nations.

With an introduction by Layma and five essays by highly regarded writers￯﾿ﾽincluding Dai Sijie, author of the celebrated novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress—China is the most significant and comprehensive visual book on its subject to be published in our time.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly