Quotes from Tom Carter

A peek inside the city's many nightspots reveals a Shangri-La-di-da of tiny Shanghai socialites in even tinier outfits dancing provocatively with well-to-do Westerners. But while such sights may draw gasps from some people, the truth is that this kind of thing is nothing new for Shanghai, the Orient's original opium-den of iniquity.

Change Dynasty

Hair salon doorways in the capital city's pink light district. Working as a xiaojie is an alternative, albeit illicit, means of income for these underprivileged girls, who are known in Jiangxi as "porcelain with cracks" and in Ningxia as "wilted flowers".

Maiden China

Pink light district

The snapshots in CHINA: Portrait of a People are not meant to be works of art. I was too preoccupied with participating, with reveling in the moment, to worry about their perfection. Their purpose, then, is to form a candid portrait of China exactly as China presented itself to me.