Map of China with places visited in 1993 (blue placemarks) and 1994 (red placemarks)
In 1993, and again in 1994, I was invited to attend international conferences on Geology, my area of professional expertise. I chaired a few technical sessions, presented a couple of scientific papers, and edited the proceedings of both meetings. That last bit kept me busy for about 2 years after the end of the conferences, and resulted in the publication of two volumes totalling over 1200 pages of valuable scientific information. I'm quite proud of that work!
In this set, I will not discuss the work that I did, but rather show what I was able to see and capture of the Chinese way of life and of the scenery during the six weeks combined that I spent in the country, including in Hong Kong and Macau, which were still British and Portuguese colonies at that time.
Unlike political or economic gatherings, geological meetings nearly always include field trips that allow the participants to see for themselves some aspects of the geology and/or technical capability of the host country. Usually, those field trips focus on one or more of the following: 1. Visits to technical institutions, usually their laboratories; 2. Visits of important mineral areas or mining operations; 3. See significant geological phenomena often renowned for their uniqueness and/or great beauty.
One interesting aspect of these field trips is that they usually take you to places that are outside the usual tourist circuit so that there is a real opportunity to see the way of life pretty well in an unaltered raw form. This was particularly significant in China, a country that, at that time at least, was still very much closed to foreign visitors.
Both conferences were held in Beijing. In 1993, the field trip consisted of a 12-hour train ride to a city called Luoyang in western Henan Province, followed by bus rides first to Lingbao, also in Henan Province, and then to Xian, the capital of Shaanxi Province. Luoyang and Lingbao probably don't mean much to most people, but Xian, of course, is where the famous army of terracotta warriors was discovered and is currently displayed. This field trip explored a short segment of the Yellow River watershed and brought together a busload of geochemist who were interested mostly in the so-called Loess Plateau, an unusual form of silty sediments deposited by wind, which covers a huge area (640,000 km2) of central China.
In total, we covered about 350 km by bus between Luoyang and Xian with various stops along the way. It took us 5 days to do this (Sept 7 to 11, 1993) at a very leisurely pace. From Xian, we flew to Guangzhou (formerly Canton) and then by train to Hong Kong. While in Hong Kong, I spent 5 days visiting the colony as well as Macau.
In 1994 (red placemarks), the train ride from Beijing to Chenzhou took over 24 hours. Here, and around another town called Guiyang, we visited some of the large tin and tungsten mineral deposits that China is very famous for. Then we were bussed to Guilin, about 300 km west of Chenzhou, which, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Since both the 1993 and 1994 trips were done only one year apart, and several of the places that I visited are the same (e.g. Beijing, Hong Kong), I will present both trips in the same set, which will allow me to select the best shots and, as a result, raise the overall quality of the presentation. Something I should add is that all of the pics were shot on film and scanned using a Nikon Supercoolscan 5000. The 1993 pics were shot on negative (Kodacolor) film using either a Nikon SLR or a cheaper Nikon point-and-shoot. In 1994, everything was shot on positive (Kodachrome slide) film using the same SLR and point-and-shoot cameras as in 1993. I don't think that there was significant deterioration of the original film material in the nearly 20 years between the shooting and the scanning, but I am glad that these precious pictures are now safely in digital format deep inside my hard drive.
Map of China with places visited in 1993 (blue placemarks) and 1994 (red placemarks)
In 1993, and again in 1994, I was invited to attend international conferences on Geology, my area of professional expertise. I chaired a few technical sessions, presented a couple of scientific papers, and edited the proceedings of both meetings. That last bit kept me busy for about 2 years after the end of the conferences, and resulted in the publication of two volumes totalling over 1200 pages of valuable scientific information. I'm quite proud of that work!
In this set, I will not discuss the work that I did, but rather show what I was able to see and capture of the Chinese way of life and of the scenery during the six weeks combined that I spent in the country, including in Hong Kong and Macau, which were still British and Portuguese colonies at that time.
Unlike political or economic gatherings, geological meetings nearly always include field trips that allow the participants to see for themselves some aspects of the geology and/or technical capability of the host country. Usually, those field trips focus on one or more of the following: 1. Visits to technical institutions, usually their laboratories; 2. Visits of important mineral areas or mining operations; 3. See significant geological phenomena often renowned for their uniqueness and/or great beauty.
One interesting aspect of these field trips is that they usually take you to places that are outside the usual tourist circuit so that there is a real opportunity to see the way of life pretty well in an unaltered raw form. This was particularly significant in China, a country that, at that time at least, was still very much closed to foreign visitors.
Both conferences were held in Beijing. In 1993, the field trip consisted of a 12-hour train ride to a city called Luoyang in western Henan Province, followed by bus rides first to Lingbao, also in Henan Province, and then to Xian, the capital of Shaanxi Province. Luoyang and Lingbao probably don't mean much to most people, but Xian, of course, is where the famous army of terracotta warriors was discovered and is currently displayed. This field trip explored a short segment of the Yellow River watershed and brought together a busload of geochemist who were interested mostly in the so-called Loess Plateau, an unusual form of silty sediments deposited by wind, which covers a huge area (640,000 km2) of central China.
In total, we covered about 350 km by bus between Luoyang and Xian with various stops along the way. It took us 5 days to do this (Sept 7 to 11, 1993) at a very leisurely pace. From Xian, we flew to Guangzhou (formerly Canton) and then by train to Hong Kong. While in Hong Kong, I spent 5 days visiting the colony as well as Macau.
In 1994 (red placemarks), the train ride from Beijing to Chenzhou took over 24 hours. Here, and around another town called Guiyang, we visited some of the large tin and tungsten mineral deposits that China is very famous for. Then we were bussed to Guilin, about 300 km west of Chenzhou, which, in my opinion, is one of the most beautiful places on earth.
Since both the 1993 and 1994 trips were done only one year apart, and several of the places that I visited are the same (e.g. Beijing, Hong Kong), I will present both trips in the same set, which will allow me to select the best shots and, as a result, raise the overall quality of the presentation. Something I should add is that all of the pics were shot on film and scanned using a Nikon Supercoolscan 5000. The 1993 pics were shot on negative (Kodacolor) film using either a Nikon SLR or a cheaper Nikon point-and-shoot. In 1994, everything was shot on positive (Kodachrome slide) film using the same SLR and point-and-shoot cameras as in 1993. I don't think that there was significant deterioration of the original film material in the nearly 20 years between the shooting and the scanning, but I am glad that these precious pictures are now safely in digital format deep inside my hard drive.