Pictures

Chinese People Then And Now, Same Poses, Same Positions

by on Monday, July 12, 2010 70 comments comments

Chinese people then and now.

From Mop:

Years later~ Awakening our memories~ The same pose~ The same position~…

Chinese people then and now.

Chinese people then and now.

Chinese people then...

...and now.

Chinese people then...

...and now.

Chinese people then...

...and now.

Chinese people then...

...and now.

Chinese people then...

...and now.

Comments from Mop:

liyibin26:

Quite moving…

Quite sad.

·三三三三三三·:

Sigh…aging for women is much more frightening than for men…truly must cherish their time.

乔云倩:

Those empty spots, very sad.

钟哲俊:

The very last one is too unbearable.

吟天荡地:

The last two!!!!!
Let us remember the heroes who in 1979-1989 sacrificed their young lives in foreign countries defending the dignity of the motherland!

你不胖:

These will only give those people in their 70-80s even more feelings~~

淤魔:

Very profound. Of course, when we are 70-80 years old, and we look back, what was will [also] no longer be.

一梦二十三:

In another 30-40 years, have Edison Chen and Gillian Chung reenact their previous pose and position…

红黑小兵:

[I've] seen this many times, and every time I feel like crying.

99夜鸣猪:

A very good selection [for a post topic], support the lou zhu.

Cherish your time. chinaSMACK personals.

  • http://www.chinageeks.org C. Custer

    Last one is pretty intense

    • Rick in China

      I agree, the first few were kinda stupid, but the last one made it kinda hit home.

  • ard

    Tempus fugit…

    • pervertt

      Tempus fugit indeed. Who cannot look at these photos and reflect on the changes in one’s own family over the last few decades. Photographs can say so much, without a word being uttered.

  • mike

    last one is pretty sad, same with the one that has four empty seats

    • Calvin

      Agreed. Since the last one was taken 1979 does that mean that the missing people died in combat (Sino-Vietnam War)?

  • Supreme Leader

    This is a very nice post – interesting and sad – time moves along, and in the end, regardless of those moments that change the world, we all move along our path separated from those so close to us in our youth…

    • Kerry

      Off topic, but I like your username + profile pic ;) btw, isn’t kim il-sung supreme leader? the nutcase in your photo is “dear leader”

  • Supreme_Leader

    Sad and nostalgic – all those people we were so connected with in the vigorous excitement of youth, move along, get old and walk their own paths…

  • http://www.theonion.com Supreme_Leader

    This (sniffle) reminds me so much of my photo albums too… nice post (sniffle)… nice… Kolbyoligiyo!!!

  • The-last-emperor

    Chinese all look the same, which means the could have replaced those people with anybody.

    • Chunghwa

      0/10

      Troll harder.

    • Calvin

      You fail. Now go to bed

  • John

    Very interesting. Not at all sad. Time passes.

  • krdr

    Great post! Fauna, your ad for Personals perfectly fits.

    Of course, Edison Chen comment is hilarious :D

  • Guy

    Wow, it really sucks to age. The empty chairs takes the message home. Your time is limited on earth. Make the best of it. And most important of all be kind to one another.

  • Kning

    I look at these people and see possible killers. Any one of these old bastards could have been a red guard, and who knows what they did in that time?

    Chinese people respect their elderly, but any one of them could have blood on their hands. It’s not just ‘China’ that was fucked up in that time – it was the Chinese people who let it happen.

    • Developing China

      You fail at trolling. Go back to your cold empty kitchen and have a sip from your cup of loneliness

    • bobiscool

      If you didn’t experience it, you have no right to judge. Do you have the slightest idea of what China was like, and what happened to China since 1839?

      For all you China-haters such as GuoBao, why are you still reading about this? Can’t you go somewhere else? If you have nothing good to say about China, go praise other countries on their own sites. There are sites dedicated to every country’s news…

      This post is about how no one escapes time. I think it’s a very beautiful project, regardless of who did it. Can’t you find it in your hearts just once to stop your “everyone in China is uncreative and deserves to die” attitude, and appreciate something which connects all humans, something which shapes our world?

      Yes, the Chinese did kill. But who hasn’t? China “invaded” vietnam, yet after getting to Hanoi, they left immediately, indicating that they have no intention of conquering anyone. China is a peaceful country, and has been one for a long time. While there have been infighting, and many dynastic changes, China generally did not attack other countries. For 2000+ years China was the hegemon of the East, and small countries such as Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Laos etc etc etc don’t have the power to self-defend had China really attempted to “conquer the world”. Zheng He’s trips around the world further show this point; though his fleet of exploration ships could’ve defeated any enemy, they did not conquer anyone. On the other hand, Japan has a history of attempting to conquer China through Korea.

      The current state of China has been infected by Maoism, that most of the generations alive right now have been truamatized by Mao distorted their views on life. However, as time passes, we see that the “’90s and ’00s” generations are slowly changing.

      Don’t define a whole country based on slander from ignorant bodies; do your own research, read your own history. People who spew ad hominem against an entire country, against 1/6th of the world are nothing more than sad, ignorant lowlifes who has nothing better to do.

      • Jean

        The China-haters has what we call a love hate feeling with China, where the love is greater than the hate, that’s why they come back.

      • Alikese

        “If you didn’t experience it, you have no right to judge. Do you have the slightest idea of what China was like, and what happened to China since 1839?”

        If you weren’t there in Nazi Germany, you have no right to judge. Do you know what it was like in the Weimar Republic?

        • bobiscool

          I don’t see where you’re getting at. Are you trying to say that the Nazis who are supposedly bad cannot be deemed as “bad” by my standards?

          If so, then let me explain the flaw in your reasoning. I myself have said that the current regime in China is corrupt. I never supported the CCP, and never will. However, that does not mean that THE PEOPLE are bad. Similarly, the PEOPLE in Nazi Germany was not all bad. Of course there are bad people in Germany just as there are in China. But that doesn’t mean you can generalize a whole nation as “bad”.

          Remember, the government and the people are different things. Especially in single party states.

    • MF

      Yeah, but I’ve met some people who were Red Guards who, looking back, are really horrified at what they did. One co-worker of mine told me that she regrets her actions, but wouldn’t say what they were. I didn’t dare ask her more, because she seemed so freaked out just talking about it a little. She did say she destroyed all her Chairman Mao buttons and books from that time.

      Apparently, she only got to go to school because she was a peasant or something, and was chosen to replace someone with a “counterrevolutionary” background. So I understand why she would be really grateful and even fanatical at the time. She came from a really poor background — she said she didn’t even have a proper name until she had to register for school.

  • http://www.jingdaily.com Jing Daily

    Just FYI, since there’s no context given: These photos are the work of Hai Bo, one of China’s most respected contemporary photographers. He’s moved on, thematically, from this series and currently has an exhibition going on at the Sackler Gallery in Washington DC.

  • Lew

    Yeah there are China haters on here, but why? Most of these people are also China lovers but have been in China too long so need to vent their frustration.

    Think about this…if I came to a massive Chinese internet cafe and hacked the server to block QQ, Tudou, Youku and a host of other regularly used sites that people relied on for entertainment and to keep in contact with their friends and family, would I be expecting good-will from the internet cafe netziens or a punch in the mouth?

    • @@

      how about?

      use a proxy server

      or

      don’t come the china??

      HERPHERP……

      what fucking gets me the most is that no matter what the original topics is about, these fucking 14 years old apeshits idiot freedom fighters manage to derive somekind of china bashing debate out of if.

      • Bubbles

        How about fucking off and dying?

        or

        How about fucking off and dying?

        What gets me most is no matter what happens there are all these defenders of the indefensible other-country-stealing and raping, internet-blocking-for-cash, can’t see another point of view false Marxist, but rhetoric using, 5 mao, it’s not even communism, it’s authoritarian capitalism un-free dip-shit China loving lamer brainwashed trolls on here.

        Go and watch CCTV9 for your daily dose of communist propaganda in Engrish.

        • gwailo

          Funny thing is, it just so happens that the only channels dumbshit laowais like you can understand are ones like CCTV9.

    • Calvin

      Trolls on this site are not bashing China because they can’t get on Facebook. No one suddenly flips a switch and becomes racist because they cant get on Youtube.

  • me

    The last two!!!!!
    Let us remember the heroes who in 1979-1989 sacrificed their young lives in foreign countries defending the dignity of the motherland!

    actually invading vietnam to try and make the viet troops pull out of cambodia so that the brutal communist ragime could continue its slaughter – in the process getting only 10 km into vietnam and losing a staggering 600.000 chinese tropps in little over a week does not suggest – defending the dignity of the motherland!
    education is very important as it gives us a better more informed way of looking at the world

    • Kning

      Chinese people are so concerned with ‘face’ that at the end of the day, they know no shame.

      Ironic.

      • @@

        WiskyTangos are so concerned with their ‘superiority complex’ that at the end of the day, they know no shame.

        ironic.

        how about fuck off my redneck brother. post your whine somewhere else

        • Alikese

          Is “W[h]iskyTangos” slang for something? I know it stands for W T… wild turnips? Wet tits? Worrisome travesties?

    • bobiscool

      Yes, yes. Keep being sarcastic. We all know how great you are, right?

      Who cares if the war was justified? The soliders weren’t the ones who wanted to go to Viet nam to die. They simply had to follow orders for the livelihood of their families. There is nothing shameful in that.

      We are not remembering the war, the causes of the war. We are remembering the affects of the war.

      Germany invaded France in 1914. Are you saying that Germans are therefore all coldblooded people who do not deserve sympathy?

      Who cares how corrupt the government is? The people have nothing to do with it. The soliders were merely following orders, and anyone dying is sad, IMO.

      Just as China did not have a right to invade Viet nam, Viet nam did not have a right to invade cambodia. Do you honestly believe Viet nam was fighting cambodia for the sake of the cambodian people? It was nothing less than for their own interests.

      Similarly, the Americans are fighting their “war on terror” for their own interests as well. The governments are to be despised, but anytime a solider dies is sad. Learn to have some sympathy.

  • Chinese Netizen

    Favorite comment above:

    “In another 30-40 years, have Edison Chen and Gillian Chung reenact their previous pose and position…”

    And empty chairs don’t necessarily mean they’re dead. Probably became greedy, philandering officials that got caught!

  • InstantNoodles

    The empty chairs made me sad.

  • TN

    I guess I am a cruel person. I actually laughed at the last one.

  • Hairy chinese kid

    They don’t age well.

  • Black fake

    Good photos never seen.

  • Nikilodian

    The ‘Edison Chen and Gillian Cheung’ comment cracked me up!!
    ROFL

  • Typhoon

    this is very powerful. i like

    • 华侨

      一切有为法，如梦幻泡影，如露亦如电，应作如是观。

  • frank

    anyone who says “blah blah blah is not blah blah blah, but loneliness…” truly is a moron.

    give it a rest!

  • Chunghwa

    inb4 Agent Orange jokes.

    Come on, a photo dated 1979 means nothing. They could have died by a wide variety of other means other than warfare. Assuming that the second photo was taken in 2009, 30 years is a pretty long time. Why the generalisation? Soldiers can have car accidents, food poisoning and terminal cancer as well.

  • Jean

    Maybe they became rich and don’t have time for this…

  • The-last-emperor

    Everyone who says “blah blah blah is not blah blah blah, but loneliness…” truly is a moron plus give it a rest! is an idiot, give it a break.!

  • Bando

    its an internet meme originating from china. Overused and not funny any more, like Over Nine Thousand.

    Well, whatever, let them have their display of stupidity and deal with it.

  • farkou

    Some one is inviting Chinese nuke for viets. Southeast malay monkeys deserve final solution.

  • Bob

    Well, it was strategic defense, similar to the invasion of Iraq, except imagine Iraq was on the American border, and it was invading Mexico.

  • Calvin

    Haha, my mistake. How could I ever forget about the mighty Vietnamese?

  • Chunghwa

    After the Sino-Soviet Split of the 1960s, Cambodia was an ally of China, and Vietnam was an ally of the Soviet Union. At the time, the two sides were hostile to one another. In 1979, Vietnam invaded Cambodia, which prompted China to intervene.

    Look up “Sino-Soviet split”, “Indochina wars” and “Sino-Vietnamese war” on Wikipedia.

  • david

    are you racist or you are just a moron

  • Spanky

    Don’t forget China was on the side of the Khmer Rogue of Killing Fields fame. Vietnam was doing the world a favor invading Cambodia but I guess China really liked genocide so fought against Vietnam.

  • bobiscool

    Just so you know, I never read a single chinese text book, I can’t even read chinese. I grew up in Canada, and I just recently finished International Baccalaureate History HL with Asia and Oceania as an option. So I’m not brainwashed by the Chinese, as you might think.

    I’ll admit, regarding the Vietnam war, I don’t know much. However, from what I have read, what I wrote was not incorrect. Vietnam did something to provoke China, thus China attacks Vietnam. It wasn’t as if they invaded just for the heck of it.

    Now regarding Zheng He, yes, he only got to Africa. But that’s not the point. The point was that his fleet was unmatched, even by the Royal British Navy at that time. Christopher Columbus’s little explore ship was 50x smaller than Zheng He’s flag ship. Regardless of how far Zheng He went, he didn’t conquer anyone. There were plenty of smaller regions he easily could’ve defeated.

    Yes, it’s neighbours has defeated China on several occasions. Actually on many occasions. But do you really think China used all of its force on a little border squirmish? Had there been a real, large threat, and had China moved its main army, none of the little countries would have a chance. Which is why every country around it is a vassal state.

    I don’t see that you’ve pointed out any real “errors” in what I wrote. Most of what you called “errors” are mere nitpicking of my words, or different interpretation of events. If you have sources which directly oppose what I’ve written, I’ll be glad to learn.

    Anyway, my point was not to teach Chinese history. My point is that every country has had glorious and not so glorious moments. You can’t define a country simply because it’s current government is corrupt. In a country of 1.3 billion people, there obviously would be many, many bad people. But that doesn’t mean every single Chinese person is bad. You can’t just generalize everything as “the chinese are uncreative, oppressive, and do not deserve to live”.

    Regardless of whether my history is correct, which I still do believe it is, even looking at it from a mathematical perspective, having 1.3 billion people concentrated in one country, and are all uncreative, uneducated assholes, the chances of that are basically not significant.

    Again, if you have nothing good to say about a country, then don’t say anything. Go find a country you love, and talk about it.

  • Kerry

    Quit trolling, I hate it when stupid “prideful” vietnamese like you go around defending your inferiority complex against us chinese.. doesn’t matter who invaded who ok? This is just an expression of human life and art, nobody cares about your tiny ass country.

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