Wow, I love that first shot! All 3 are excellent per usual. I had no idea you screened them. I like your B&W series too, especially the sleeper.

About a month ago, I went to the Houhai 后海 (literally, "back sea") lake area and shot about three rolls of film. Who knows when I'm going to get to see what's on those... in the meantime, a few details.

The Yoghurt Locker by Leighgion, on Flickr
One of my Chinese friends told me that you can subscribe to a daily yogurt delivery service, which she does. You pick how many and what flavor and for your money you get a locker key. Delivery is daily at 6pm. I actually see these lockers from my window but had never really thought about what they were for. There's larger clusters of lockers, but I like this photo the best.

The Easy Chair by Leighgion, on Flickr
Turns out my favorite campus cat is not dead (yay!) but on account of tooth problems was moved to and has mostly lived instead, the snack stand behind the main building. It was rumor and luck that got me a reunion.

Ghost Street by Leighgion, on Flickr
Famous "ghost street," of Dongzhimen which is renown for sheer density of restaurants and red lanterns.

Yogurt delivery service lockers? Nope; my wildest guess would have fallen short on that one too.

Yeah - the cat came back!
Maybe he just used up one of his 9 lives.
Hopefully he has a few left.

The street filled with lanterns looks very inviting.
Are they electric or candle powered?
(I'm going to guess candle. )

Ghost Street is a great image. I do get a feeling of being crowded. Very cool about finding that cat again.

I have to say that is one weird looking but really very interesting looking cat. Glad the cat came back.

Haven't spent much time lately specifically for photography, but here are a few street grabs.

Clothes Stop by Leighgion, on Flickr

Post Consumer Waste by Leighgion, on Flickr

Beijing Boot by Leighgion, on Flickr

Street BBQ by Leighgion, on Flickr

China, even in major cities like Beijing, is a place where immediate functionality rules wherever possible and at times, when foreigners would consider inconceivable.

A simple metal trough filled with coals is a common barbecue device on the street. Generally speaking, it's used by street vendors selling 串 (kebabs, generally lamb) but it's also used an auxiliary cooking facility by small eateries, which setup right outside. This was the case of this photograph, though in a rare departure, instead of roasting skewers on a trough elevated to waist level, a whole leg of lamb was being barbecued almost right on the pavement.

I like the composition of these shots Leigh, clearly the BBQ is outside, the insane amount of boxes and a tiny bicycle carrying them, very cool. And so very different.

Quite a contrast - a modern, shiny white car parked next to a guy cooking a leg of lamb over a box of coals on a street corner. Try that in our town and the cops would give you the boot quite quickly.

J.Scott wrote:
Yeah, this gap of regulations one of those really basic things about China vs western countries. We're very used to thinking of regulations (especially food regulations) as good for us and necessary, but hanging around a developing nation makes you appreciate how much of a luxury regulations are; you need to be a wealthy and prosperous enough society in order to afford to having so many rules.

If Chinese restaurants and groceries were all forced to obey a fraction of the regulations that are the norm in North America, the population would probably starve. The resources just don't yet exist to try to operate according to such standards and still distribute food to everybody.

Not to say that China shouldn't gradually ramp up these standards, but in the meantime we got leg of lamb roasting on the sidewalk and it would be some loss of cool if that went away.

And now, for something completely bicycle.

Bike Repair Poker by Leighgion, on Flickr

Mobile cycle repair smiths like these are the normal way you get work done on your two-to-three wheelers. The sign 修车 literally translates into "repair car," but in Chinese "车“ has a much broader connotation than automobile and used in this context the natural assumption is that it refers to a bike. It's ten Chinese cents for a self-serve tire pump. The repair men tend to not be particularly attentive, but if you get their attention their work is efficient and very cheap.

My pedal fell off once. Total tab for bolting it back on (I lost my bolt) and repairing the front brake: ¥10 (less than $1.50USD)

The Business of Inflation by Leighgion, on Flickr

The ten cent tire pump in practice. I'd just paid up myself. It took a little effort to get the proprietor to pay enough attention to take my money. He was much more interested in the card game.

Distant Relations by Leighgion, on Flickr

My little second hand "La Rata" as my girlfriend dubbed it, next to the big tricycle sculpture at neighboring Tsinghua University.

Girl Trucker by Leighgion, on Flickr

This class of "trucker," riding what I call utility tricycles, is unique and vital to Asian infrastructure. Most jobs a North American or European would associate with delivery vans or pickup trucks tends to be taken up by these hardly folk. More and more of the trikes have been retrofitted with electric motors, but some are still powered full-time by human muscle.

I've photographed many of these and will photograph many more, but this one caught my eye due to the particularly photogenic composition and contrast of colors and patterns. That woman is quite tidily dressed for a cargo triker. I actually turned my bike around to go back for this shot.

Thanks for the info as always Leigh. And I agree, your last photo appears to have perfect framing and composition naturally. It looks like a pro would pose someone there, so nice eye to catch it. Definitely worth going back for.

Given how some people claim allergies are the result of all these regulations and cleanliness, do you know if there are as many allergies in China? Just broad curiosity.

I love the juxtaposition of these latest pictures, these are awesome

Thanks! Frank, I thought of you when assembling the bike theme. Tiff, in full disclosure, the last shot is cropped as I was shooting across the street and my LX3 has a limited zoom range that favors wide.

Far as allergies go, of course people have them here, but I am inclined to believe that the really serious things like deadly nut allergies are considerably fewer than in North America. Theories about the reasoning aside, the environment just isn't friendly to anybody who'll fall over if they breath a whiff of nuts. Not only are Chinese food products not big on stripping things out, nuts are so common here that if you have an allergy, just entering certain open markets here might be dangerous. Eating? Forget about it. Virtually impossible to guarantee a nut-free diet.

After the big winter lull, I've had a pretty good week cycling through nearby areas I haven't actually gone to before and getting back to some documentary shooting in the process.

Tree Removal by Leighgion, on Flickr

Beijing's climate is not terribly hospitable to plant life. Things grow if given a chance, but the severely limited rainfall and frequent high winds make for parched and stony soil. Landscaping is a herculean effort that never ends and within Beijing can come to resemble plastic surgery on the soil with failed plants extracted and fresh ones carefully plugged in. Chinese though, are willing to go that distance. Even fully grown trees are transplanted regularly. This is in a park about a 15 minute ride from BLCU. It is pleasant enough, but look close and you can see it retains its greenery only by dint of the continuous maintenance.

The Granny System by Leighgion, on Flickr

Little one got way ahead of his granny in the park. On the left is preparation to set a tree in place, which was done by the time I returned on my walk out.

A Break from the City by Leighgion, on Flickr

The most "city" clad person I saw in the park, which was populated mostly by families having a break. Out in the city, she would be absolutely unremarkable, but in the park she stood out like a stranger. I happened to walk the same way she did for a time, and saw her ask for directions a couple times. The park isn't too far from my school, but does take a specific effort to get to even on a bike, to say nothing of hoofing it. Not sure how this girl ended up wandering in, shopping bag and all.