The earliest of my photos on this blog are from 1990, and the China they portray now seems like a lost world - still quite 'communist' and undeveloped (see my
chapter on Muli for example). There aren't many photos from China from the era before that. The few tourists who did visit the country in the 1980s tended to stick to the main cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. That's why it's such a thrill to see the photos from Harvard botanist David Boufford. He seems to have visited Kunming and Dali on a botanical expedition in coopoeration with Chinese scientists. His pre-digital 35mm film photos are beautiful and show a much simpler and cruder Dali compared to the tourist hotspot of today.
You can se more of his photos by searching the
Harvard VIA site
Erhai lake
American researchers meet the locals
South gate of Dali
In the field
The Erhai Hotel, Dali
On the road
Yunnan kid, 1984
Bai woman (with nice watch)
Pre-tourism Lijiang old town
