An ethnic Miao woman walks through a field in morning fog the village of Basha, Congjiang county, Guizhou province on May 22, 2013.  The village, an old ethnic Miao settlement with a population of 2,200, is believed to be the last community authorized by the Chinese government to keep guns. Although people in Basha no longer subsist on hunting, guns and gunpowder pots have become part of their traditional dress, while firing towards the sky is seen as a ritual to welcome guests, according to local media. (REUTERS/JASON LEE) (via lefigaro-photos)
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An ethnic Miao woman walks through a field in morning fog the village of Basha, Congjiang county, Guizhou province on May 22, 2013. 

The village, an old ethnic Miao settlement with a population of 2,200, is believed to be the last community authorized by the Chinese government to keep guns. Although people in Basha no longer subsist on hunting, guns and gunpowder pots have become part of their traditional dress, while firing towards the sky is seen as a ritual to welcome guests, according to local media. (REUTERS/JASON LEE)

(via lefigaro-photos)

China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village By Jason Lee (via Reuters) All photos by Jason Lee “Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit. The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant. The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang. His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added. At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.” As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.” I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”
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China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village By Jason Lee (via Reuters) All photos by Jason Lee “Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit. The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant. The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang. His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added. At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.” As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.” I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”
Zoom Info
China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village By Jason Lee (via Reuters) All photos by Jason Lee “Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit. The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant. The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang. His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added. At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.” As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.” I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”
Zoom Info
China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village By Jason Lee (via Reuters) All photos by Jason Lee “Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit. The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant. The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang. His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added. At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.” As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.” I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”
Zoom Info
China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village By Jason Lee (via Reuters) All photos by Jason Lee “Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit. The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant. The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang. His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added. At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.” As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.” I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”
Zoom Info
China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village By Jason Lee (via Reuters) All photos by Jason Lee “Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit. The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant. The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang. His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added. At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.” As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.” I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”
Zoom Info
China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village By Jason Lee (via Reuters) All photos by Jason Lee “Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit. The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant. The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang. His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added. At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.” As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.” I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”
Zoom Info
China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village By Jason Lee (via Reuters) All photos by Jason Lee “Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit. The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant. The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang. His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added. At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.” As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.” I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”
Zoom Info
China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village By Jason Lee (via Reuters) All photos by Jason Lee “Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit. The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant. The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang. His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added. At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.” As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.” I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”
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China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village By Jason Lee (via Reuters) All photos by Jason Lee “Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village. Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit. The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant. The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang. His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added. At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.” As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.” I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”
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China’s “Wonderful” Communist Village

By Jason Lee (via Reuters)

All photos by Jason Lee

“Growing up as a Chinese national, I leaned a lot about Communism through text books. On Monday it only took a one and a half hour flight and one hour drive to travel from China’s modern cultural and political center, Beijing, to the small communist society at Nanjie Village.

Honestly, I didn’t expect it to be so easy. There were no entrance tickets, no security guards, and no one had to check our vehicle. We drove all the way to the village center, where a giant statue of the late Chinese Chairman Mao Zedong stood in the middle of a square, waving at me. Next to him were four portraits of his communism comrades: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. The loudspeakers at the square repeatedly played the classic revolutionary song “The East Is Red”; the same song played in outer space in 1970 after China’s first satellite was put into orbit.

The entire Nanjie village consisted of dozens of factories and several main streets. Faces of Mao Zedong were everywhere. There were very few people or cars on the street, which might have been the reason why all the traffic lights in the village were not working, not even at the crossroads. I jumped up and down with my cameras in the middle of the street to get good angles, which could easily get me killed if I were in a different town. But luckily the people of Nanjie seemed to move at a slow pace and be pleasant.

The next morning, a worker approached me on the street and said: “Welcome to Nanjie Village!” I was deeply flattered, as it is difficult to have a casual conversation in China with a complete stranger. I was also dying to talk to local residents as I had tons of questions for them. I wanted to know how they felt about everything in the village, how they felt about their lives. So I asked these questions to the middle-aged worker, Mr. Wang.

His answer was only one word: “Zhong”, a word from the Henan dialect which means “wonderful.” He explained further that many of life’s necessities were free in the village, including housing, health care, education and food. He said this immediately made people living in other places embarrassed, because even Chinese white collar workers have to spend most of their salary on mortgage and credit cards while praying to god they never get sick. I asked him why other places in China can’t replicate what Nanjie has, even though all of China is under the same social system? Why, in other places, would a person take advantage of others just to get more money? He replied that it was because of people’s selfishness. He believes that selfishness is the root of all means of destruction. However, in Nanjie, people were doing the very opposite of selfishness – sharing. Selfish people would be isolated in this place, he added.

At the end of our chat, I asked whether he had ever been to a capitalist country. He said he had been to Japan. “Japan’s social system is also good (comparing it to Nanjie’s), and it is also more modernized, especially in education.”

As I bid farewell to Mr. Wang, he gave me a handbook titled “Understanding Nanjie Village.” Browsing through the pages, I saw many grandiose mottos recited by the village Communist Party Secretary (head of the village) Wang Hongbin, such as “Money is poison in an individual’s hand, but fortune in a collective’s hand,” and “Make the people in Nanjie village so rich that they don’t have any deposit.”

I have to admit, even though how the society actually works still puzzles me, I was intrigued by the lifestyle in Nanjie. I wanted to stay longer, but soon realized that it was the end of month and I still had a bunch of credit card bills to pay. I snapped back to reality.”

Source: fotojournalismus

Folk artists perform a fire dragon dance amid molten iron at 1,300 degrees Celsius (2,372 degrees Fahrenheit) during a Spring Festival Temple Fair celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year in Beijing January 25, 2012. The Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, began on January 23 and marks the start of the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese zodiac. [Credit : Jason Lee/Reuters]
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Folk artists perform a fire dragon dance amid molten iron at 1,300 degrees Celsius (2,372 degrees Fahrenheit) during a Spring Festival Temple Fair celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year in Beijing January 25, 2012. The Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, began on January 23 and marks the start of the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese zodiac.

[Credit : Jason Lee/Reuters]

Source: fotojournalismus

Decorative red lanterns are hung on a tree ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations at Ditan Park (The Temple of Earth), in Beijing on Jan. 20, 2012. The Lunar New Year begins on January 23 and marks the start of the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese zodiac. The Associated Press reports today on an expected “dragon baby boom”, as many people in China, Taiwan and other Asian countries believe that babies born in the auspicious Year of the Dragon are gifted with prodigious quantities of luck and strength. [Credit : Jason Lee / Reuters]
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Decorative red lanterns are hung on a tree ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations at Ditan Park (The Temple of Earth), in Beijing on Jan. 20, 2012. The Lunar New Year begins on January 23 and marks the start of the Year of the Dragon, according to the Chinese zodiac. The Associated Press reports today on an expected “dragon baby boom”, as many people in China, Taiwan and other Asian countries believe that babies born in the auspicious Year of the Dragon are gifted with prodigious quantities of luck and strength.

[Credit : Jason Lee / Reuters]

Source: fotojournalismus