Travel Photography China, Jiangsu By Train13 min read

The journey begins

Two years agos it felt like the world had been reset. That messy period of lockdowns, health checks and complicated travel had just past. It was ecstasy just to simply step onto the train and go. All I had was heavy coat and some warmer clothes, and passport and my Fuji camera. 

Once in Shenzhen I simply boarded the high-speed from Shenzhen North Station and the destination, Jiangsu. It was a real chance to dust off my camera and get some travel photography under my belt.

On the Train

Travelling on the train in China, is not like it used to be. Long gone are the rattling cars that clack over tracks, where excrement slips out of the pipe from the toilet to decorate old tracks. No smoking, no noise except for the incessant announcements over the speakers. It’s boring, fast, efficient and assuredly not detrimental to your health. 

It’s little like flying across Europe, skimming across every city in your path and announcing every city as you go. The total journey would only take 8 hours, which is incredible really. It used to take 24 hours to get to Shanghai from Guangzhou, and Lianyungang and Shenzhen both had significant kilometers on either side of that. 

As a side note there is actually a photography book, that I would love to share with you in the future on this very same topic, it covers a Chinese photographers time spent on old trains during the 90’s. That’s for another day though, for now your stuck with my post.

Far from the massing crowds

Have you ever been to a city train station in China? Just in case you haven’t le time describe them to you. If a super modern airport and baby with a mega modern sports stadium, the child would resemble most of China’s large city modern train stations. Every large city has at least one of these mega stations.

I once heard a story, that the famous Paddington Station was once held in high regards by designers here on the mainland. It was admired for its Victorian design, its  grandness not to mention its place in railroad history. But upon visiting it Chinese officials were left less slightly disappointed with its small size. That said Harry Potter fans love this kind of station. 

Arriving at Shenzhen North Station, from Hong Kong I hoped to miss the worst of the crowds. Technically I was traveling after the official holiday period had began. The working theory was, massive crowds that swarm every transport hub and transport artery, would be fewer. It proved a good prediction.

Passing through China

Hurting through China doesn’t even give you enough time to appreciate the fleeting images of mountains, villages and towns. The journey is made interesting only by the the screen in your hand and intermedent breaks at stations. 

Gone are the crumbling stations and platforms of yesteryear, that I experienced some 15 to 20 years ago. It’s quite the reverse now Changsha, Guangzhou and other smaller cities seem to compete in splendor for the best station and platform. 

These breaks however do afford enough time for a cigarette if that’s your thing, but never enough time for a cigar, which is my thing. It did leave several minutes to get snap shots of travellers leaving and boarding, as well as time to collect images of the stations themselves. 

Admittedly I took more pics on the return part of the journey than on the out bound portion, where for the most part I snapped away. Probably to the great annoyance of others I guess. China seems much more open to cameras in this social media age, which is a great boon to all with a camera or phone.

The main subjects of pictures were of smokers, of the stations themselves which often left interesting chance to capture contrasting black and photos.

There were those of unwitting participants trapped in limbo between carriages. Once where there would have been smokers, there were still people staring out of the windows, picking their noses or just on the phones.

Arriving in Lianyungang

Lianyungang was unremarkable at first glance, one of many smaller Chinese cities. But it holds a claim to fame: the origin of the legendary “Journey to the West” story, where the Monkey King’s tale begins. Don’t get too excited though, I didn’t leave the city centre, so I don’t have those particular photos. That said there is a mountain, with a huge boulder on top of a small rock that was said to represent the Monkey King trapped and the orders of Jade Emperor (I think) 

The nearby cost is bleak, especially in winter. Lianyungang is not a rich city, with not much to point to and to say “that’s interesting.”  There is a nuclear plant there, which is huge local employer and strategic for the local economy, along with several medical companies.

It’s a place, made up of people, as all towns and cities are. There is nothing remarkable, the people of this city are as nice as people are anywhere. I was there on family business, but I was determined to get out and take any photo of the city that I could. 

Wandering During Spring Festival

Spring Festival is when you can still catch traces of culture in everyday life. The streets were quiet, most people home with family or away traveling. Fireworks for the most part are now banned in cities and towns. 

Some cafes, snack shops stayed open. Many restaurants were shut however. The slack was more than taken up by Starbucks and other boring shopping malls. 

For the most part as wondered around the city when I had moments of freedom, I avoided shopping malls where I could, by the allure of relativitively acceptable coffee, and the promise of semi passable toilets did win me over more than once. 

The Old-New Street

The best part of the trip was one long, winding street that recreated the old city centre. The original city centre with its old shops, and buildings were lovingly demolished for the sake of prosperity. 

Never fear though, they used old photos and senior residents of the city were consulted to help faithfully recreate what it had looked like several decades ago. The results are mixed, to say the least. The results are pretty convincing as if you can look passed fake stone facades. That said there is enough of the remaining older buildings to keep some of the soul.

Starbucks & Shadows

I eventually found a Starbucks housed in an old building, which was pretty awesome. I have seen this in several areas of China. From my point of view its much better to see a Starbucks in old structure than have a new mall (they have that too).

The mood was festive. People were selling trinkets, toys and street food. There were performances and rides for kids. Still it was the best part of the city for photos.

Photographic Challenges

I had my faithful Fuji X-T30, with a wide 35mm (50mm) lens. This kind of lens is perfect for narrow streets, not so much for low light though. I’m very much of a one lens kind of person, and not fan of switching out lenses I try to make each scene work with just one lens. The results vary.

This old street, had a lot of interest subjects, the sellers, and the people who like me were visiting the street, or returning to the street. The light was pretty good for the whole trip. The winters in China, especially in this part tend to be over cast or bright, both light conditions are good. 

The residents and travellers to Lianyungang people very friendly and more often than not didn’t have a problem with a foreigner snapping away in their city. It wasn’t always easy to get natural photos, especially in the tourist or crowded areas, where people can spot a big fat foreigner with a camera a mile away. As always I tried to use the light, and where the light wasn’t at its best it was more about the action. A few times I got both. The results, well I let you judge.

Trains and stations

To be honest, I felt many of my better more natural images may have come from the train and station part of the portion of the trip. The lighting for the most part was fabulous at these glorious stations.

The Return Journey

On the return train, urgency kicked in. I didn’t want to miss another good photo. At every stop, I jumped off with my camera, catching scenes of smokers, people rushing in and out, the quiet hum of transit life. I think my best shots came from that ride back.

Final thoughts

They are good and bad photo opportunities everywhere. I really think this is an issue for the photographer. Are your eyes fresh enough to see them? Do you know your gear well enough, to technically take them. I often struggle with foresight, the abilities to quickly map out the scene before me. As always photography is a challenge, it is at the same time unsolvable and yet solvable challenge. I think I will remain always a student and never a master at this art.

I hope you have enjoyed my first of a kind (for me) photo post. It took sometime to get around to this. I wasn’t sure what to say or how to format it. In the end I just did. Hope you enjoyed my attempt.